Edwards on (and in) the Ministry

Scripture focus

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

2 Timothy 4:2 KJV

At a glance

Summary of the chapter

Samuel Hopkins, Edwards's protege and first biographer, noted that Edwards broke with the customary Puritan practice of pastoral house-to-house visiting. Edwards reasoned that ministers should weigh their own gifts and circumstances; given the size of his Northampton parish, he judged that hours spent in the study — writing sermons and treatises, and counseling those already seeking him out under religious concern — served his flock better than routine visits.

Edwards's theology of ministry drew directly on his own pastoral role models, his father Timothy and his grandfather Solomon Stoddard, both remembered for a 'laborious, burning' pulpit ministry. Preaching in 1744 on John 5:35, Edwards described ministers as 'burning and shining lights': shining through pure, clear doctrine, and burning through genuine spiritual ardor. A minister with doctrine but no ardor becomes a 'putrefying carcass'; one with zeal but no light resembles 'an angel of darkness.'

Edwards assigned true ministers three tasks: to reveal spiritual realities hidden from ordinary sight, to refresh and comfort those broken by sorrow or sin, and to direct souls safely through a dark world toward eternal light. This high, almost priestly view of preaching as the minister's 'main business' did not keep Edwards from candidly naming the historical church's own mistakes — from patriarchal polygamy to Luther's errors — as material for pastoral instruction.

Key points

• Instead of the customary house-to-house visiting, Edwards adopted the Puritan ideal of the pastor-scholar, devoting long hours to study and sermon preparation.
• Drawing on John 5:35, Edwards described ministers as 'burning and shining lights' who must combine doctrinal clarity ('shining') with genuine spiritual ardor ('burning').
• Ministers with zeal but unsound doctrine resemble 'an angel of darkness,' Edwards warned, while those with doctrine but no ardor become 'putrefying carcasses.'
• Edwards assigned ministers three tasks: to reveal spiritual realities, to refresh and comfort troubled hearers, and to direct souls toward eternal life.
• Edwards's own ministerial models — his father Timothy and grandfather Solomon Stoddard — were both known for a 'laborious, burning' pulpit ministry that shaped his expectations of the office.

A line worth remembering

the work of ministers is to rescue lost souls and bring them to eternal happiness

McClymond & McDermott The Theology of Jonathan Edwards, ch. 29

Related Scripture

• John 5:35
• Malachi 4:2
• 1 Timothy 4:13-16
• Jeremiah 3:15

For reflection and discussion

1. What are the costs and benefits, for a modern pastor, of prioritizing study and preaching over regular personal visitation?
2. What does Edwards mean by pairing 'burning' (ardor) with 'shining' (doctrine), and why does he think a minister needs both?
3. Is it healthy for a minister to name past errors of the church candidly from the pulpit? Why or why not?