Reformation Faith Today

J.D. Wetterling is a PCA Ruling Elder, Deacon and the Resident Manager of the Ridge Haven Conference Center in North Carolina. Shortly I will have a link to his bio. A fascinating and accomplished man indeed.

Mr. Wetterling took the time to write about what is widely considered one of the greatest sermons ever delivered in North America, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He has also somewhat modernized some of the language in the sermon. Below is the preface to his updated version of the sermon. I encourage you to read it.

If you live at the turn of the third millennium after Christ walked this earth, you’ve probably never heard a sermon like this one. Jonathan Edwards was a renowned Puritan preacher, philosopher, theologian, and the leading intellectual figure of colonial America. He graduated from Yale at age 17, became a preacher like his father and grandfather, and is today considered one of the theological titans, along with Augustine, Luther and Calvin, of the Reformed faith. SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD was delivered during a time called the Great Awakening, when revival was sweeping the continent and thousands were daily coming to Christ. Two-hundred-fifty years later it is generally recognized as the greatest sermon ever preached on the North American continent, and one of the prime manifestations of the Holy Spirit that brought about the first Great Awakening.  While Edwards was equally fervent and eloquent in his preaching on all of God’s infinite attributes, especially His love and mercy, he is remembered most for this powerful portrayal of God’s infinite hatred of sin. 

Edwards was not considered a charismatic orator. He read his sermons, and when he looked up at all it was to stare at the rope for the church bell on the back wall.  He knew that in order for lost sinners to come to Christ, their only hope for salvation, they must first be brought to the realization of the desperate state they were in and the horrendous eternal consequences of it.  He brought many of his listeners to that realization this day with “remarkable effect.”  Such was the power and passion of his words that moans and groans filled the sanctuary and people fainted as he spoke.   

The “h-word” is used more often here than I have heard in 52 years of church attendance—it sets the standard for “fire and brimstone.” Jesus himself talked about hell more than anyone else in the Bible, and Edward’s biblical support for his awesomely graphic metaphors is correct, complete and convicting, and elicits a sense of urgency rarely heard in church pulpits today. 

My goal in this sanctifying exercise was to make the sermon more readable. The attention span and grammatical practice of the late 20th century man is such that, when reading 18th century intellectual discourse, the subject is often forgotten before the predicate is found. Such was the case, at least, with this reader, so basically I have broken it into shorter sentences and eliminated none, with a minimum of word changes, hopefully without changing the meaning.  This is not a paraphrase.  My source was taken from Jonathan Edwards on Knowing Christ, published by Banner of Truth Trust in 1958.  It has been a laborious blessing to this editor. I feel like I’ve spent 50 hours inside the head of a great Bible scholar.  I’ve gained a deeper love and appreciation for a Holy God and a profoundly more urgent sense of my great commission (Matthew 28:19), especially as it pertains to those whom I love very much. May it be a blessing to you, too, dear reader, and may it be for His glory alone.

JD Wetterling, Elder
Presbyterian Church in America

You can read the sermon here and Mr. Wetterling’s bio here.