Search this study companion
Scripture focus
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Romans 11:36 KJV
At a glance
Why did Edwards write End of Creation, and why is it considered his most daring work?
To answer why God, already infinitely complete, would create at all — and he concluded that God's glory and creatures' good are not rival ends but a single one.
Summary of the chapter
End of Creation takes up what philosophers call the "ultimate why question": why should anything exist rather than nothing, and why would an already perfect, self-sufficient God bother to create a world? Drawing on the Westminster Shorter Catechism's opening claim that humanity's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, Edwards built an intricate argument that these two ends are, at bottom, one and the same end viewed from two sides.
Edwards's key move was to argue that God's "emanation" of glory into creation and creatures' "remanation" of glory back to God are not two separate transactions but a single circular movement, much like a fountain overflowing and a tree bearing fruit — images vivid enough that critics sometimes mistakenly accused Edwards of pantheism. Because creatures' truest happiness consists precisely in perceiving, loving, and glorifying God, seeking God's glory and seeking creaturely flourishing are not, finally, in competition.
Admired by figures as different as Perry Miller, Sydney Ahlstrom, and John Piper as perhaps the essential key to Edwards's whole theology, End of Creation remains comparatively understudied because of its dense, almost mathematical style. Its companion piece, True Virtue, approaches the same question of moral choice from the human side, arguing that authentic virtue likewise requires making God one's supreme end.
Key points
- End of Creation tackles the classic 'why does anything exist' question by asking specifically why a perfect, self-sufficient God would bother to create at all.
- Edwards argued that God's own glory and creatures' happiness are not two competing ends but a single end viewed from two directions — emanation outward and remanation back.
- Edwards's images of God as a fountain overflowing or a tree blossoming led some critics to wrongly accuse him of pantheism.
- Scholars from Perry Miller to John Piper have called End of Creation the essential key to understanding Edwards's entire theology, despite its dense style limiting readership.
- Its companion treatise, True Virtue, approaches the same question from the human side, arguing that true morality requires making God one's supreme end.
A line worth remembering
As much as any other writing, End of Creation illustrated Edwards's unique combination of tradition and innovation in theological reasoning.
McClymond & McDermott The Theology of Jonathan Edwards, ch. 14
Related Scripture
- Isaiah 43:7
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
- Revelation 4:11
- Psalm 16:11
For reflection and discussion
- Does it change how you think about glorifying God to consider that your own deepest happiness and God's glory might be, ultimately, one and the same end?
- Why might picturing God's creating as a fountain overflowing be more accurate — or more dangerous — than picturing it as a king issuing a decree?
- How would you answer the 'ultimate why question' — why does anything exist at all — in your own words?
These notes are an original UECF.NET study companion and are not a reproduction of the book. Read the full chapter — chapter 14, “The End of God in Creation” — in The Theology of Jonathan Edwards by Michael J. McClymond and Gerald R. McDermott (Oxford University Press, 2012).