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Scripture focus
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Colossians 2:9 KJV
At a glance
Why, for Edwards, was Jesus Christ chosen to be the world's creator as well as its redeemer?
Because redemption, not creation, was God's ultimate design, so it was fitting that the one who would accomplish redemption should also be the one through whom the world was made.
Summary of the chapter
Edwards never wrote a dedicated treatise on Christ, but a rich Christology emerges from his defense of the Trinity against deists and from his larger vision of the history of redemption. For Edwards, Christ is fundamentally relational: he called the Father "an infinite fountain of light" and Christ "the communication of this light," the one through whom the Father's glory streams out to be known.
Central to this picture is an eternal "covenant of redemption" made within the Trinity itself, in which the Father commissioned the Son as redeemer and the Son freely accepted, acting, in Edwards's words, "wholly in his own right, as much as the Father." Because redemption was God's ultimate design for creation, Edwards reasoned that it was fitting for Christ, its principal agent, also to be the principal agent of creation — so that the beginning and end of the world alike serve the same redemptive purpose.
Edwards saw the created world itself as saturated with "emanations" of Christ's own excellencies — his benevolence in meadows and breezes, his purity in the lily, his majesty in thunderclouds and mountain crags — so that Christ's incarnate obedience, fulfilling every law given to humanity, was the culmination of a beauty already written into nature at creation.
Key points
- Edwards's Christology developed mainly through his defense of the Trinity against deist attacks and his account of the history of redemption, rather than a standalone treatise.
- He pictured the Father as an 'infinite fountain of light' and Christ as 'the communication of this light' — the one who makes the Father known.
- An inner-Trinitarian 'covenant of redemption' between Father and Son, made before creation, assigned Christ his work as redeemer.
- Because redemption was God's ultimate design, Edwards held it fitting that Christ, redemption's principal agent, was also creation's principal agent.
- Edwards saw the natural world as full of 'emanations' of Christ's own excellencies — his sweetness in flowers, majesty in storms — linking creation and incarnation as one continuous revelation of Christ.
A line worth remembering
God the Father is an infinite fountain of light, but Jesus Christ is the communication of this light.
McClymond & McDermott The Theology of Jonathan Edwards, ch. 16
Related Scripture
- John 1:1-14
- Hebrews 1:1-3
- Philippians 2:5-11
- Colossians 1:15-20
For reflection and discussion
- What difference does it make to think of Christ as both the agent of creation and the agent of redemption, rather than seeing these as unrelated roles?
- How might seeing 'emanations' of Christ's own beauty in nature — in flowers, storms, mountains — change how you experience the created world?
- What does it mean that the Son 'freely,' in his own right, accepted the work of redemption, rather than simply being assigned it?
These notes are an original UECF.NET study companion and are not a reproduction of the book. Read the full chapter — chapter 16, “The Person and Work of Jesus Christ” — in The Theology of Jonathan Edwards by Michael J. McClymond and Gerald R. McDermott (Oxford University Press, 2012).