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Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's "Religious Affections"

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After realizing that (despite his oft and repeated recommendations that people read Edwards for themselves) most people simply would not persevere through Edwards' cumbersome and hefty treatise on the Religious Affections, Sam Storms decided to give a distilled version (my words, not his) of Edwards for modern readers. He has retained Edwards' basic outline and much of Edwards' actual wording. But he has trimmed away what seemed to him superfluous to Edwards' main argument.

I am currently reading Religious Affections for the third time and actually purchased Storms' book because I was hoping for a more sermonic distillation of Edwards. That is not what Storms has written. But I still finished his book with profit and expect to use it in the future. The great strength of Storms' "interpretation" of Edwards is its brevity - 152 pages vs. over 350 in the Yale edition! The first time I read Religious Affections it took me four or five months to get all the way through. Storms' book can easily be read in several sittings.

The downside is that the cumulative weight of Edwards' argument is somewhat lost with the editing. For example, Storms summarizes much of Edwards' actual exposition of biblical passages and just includes the verses in brackets, whereas Edwards actually quotes the verses. I find these parts some of the richest portions of Edwards' original. I like reading Edwards himself because I value the effect his more lengthy explanation and argumentation has on my heart.

But there is a second benefit to Storms' book - and this is really the reason I want to commend it. The last third of Storms' book (p. 153-213) contains Edwards' Personal Narrative, with Storms' commentary interspersed throughout. The Personal Narrative is Edwards' own recounting of his conversion experience and early spiritual growth. It is simply breathtaking! And Storms' commentary on it is exceptionally edifying. I read all of this on a Saturday evening and it really helped sensitize my soul to the Lord and prepare my heart for worship the next day.

So, if are stirred up by those occasional quotes from Edwards that you hear from your pastor, and you want to read him for yourself but don't think you can tackle 350+ pages of unedited Puritan prose, get Storms! Even if you don't read all of the Religious Affections section (though I hope you will!), you will benefit so much from reading the Personal Narrative section.

Signs of the Spirit by Sam Storms
review by Tony Reinke (The Shepherd's Scrapbook blog)

Published in 1746, Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections remains the great masterpiece on biblical discernment. Edwards exposes the inner workings of the soul, using Scripture to make concrete the contrast between the fleeting affections of a hard hypocritical heart and the enduring affections of a softened and converted heart. The precise dissection of the soul in Religious Affections is one of the enduring characteristics of Edwards intellectual brilliance and a precision warranted from such delicate matters. Contemporary readers (like this one) will find Edwards' intellectual precision troublesome.

In his new release, Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' `Religious Affections' (Crossway: 2007), Sam Storms has written an excellent guide through Edwards' rich arguments. Storms is noted for his study of Edwards and has worked through the Religious Affections at least 10 times (p. 12).

But Storms is not enthralled with the genius of Edwards. He begins the book with clear, foundational biblical exposition and carries biblical proof throughout the entire work. Genuine discernment of the true work of God finds its basis in God's Word, not Edwards. Storms' careful biblical development deserves applause.

From here Storms builds a historical backdrop to Religious Affections and then defines affections, finally concluding that affections are the "warm and fervid inclinations that reveal the fundamental orientation of the human heart" (p. 44). Storms follows the design of Edwards in explaining the 12 signs that don't necessarily authenticate the work of God in the soul and the 12 signs that do authenticate the genuine work of God in the soul. Genuine God-given affections are lit by the flame of God Himself, an enduring flame that displays itself in genuine love and admiration of God as He exists in His spectacular beauty. True religious affections will reveal themselves by causing us to hate sin and pursue Christ-likeness, driving our appetite for more of God and to pursue the sweetness in the Person and Work of Christ.

Edwards' personal testimony of these religious affections comprise the final 80 pages.

Religious Affections is always relevant but especially in our day when "Christianity" is often defined by outward affiliations, church strategies, and cultural relevance. Edwards' reminder to our era is that genuine Christianity is defined by soul transformation. Christianity is not defined pragmatically by what it offers. More important than marketing Christianity as a list of exclusive benefits, Edwards understands that a true work of God begins with a sweet enjoyment of God in His unspotted glory and supreme majesty.

"We must, therefore, be careful that our primary joy is in God, as he is in and of himself, and not in our experience of God. That we have been made recipients of his grace and are enabled to behold his beauty is a marvelous thing indeed. But it is secondary and consequential to a recognition of God's inherent excellency. What brings you greatest and most immediate delight: your experience of a revelation of Christ, or Christ revealed?" (p. 92)

Discerning the genuine work of God is essential for every generation of Christians, and Edwards' timeless truth has been made easier. But don't misunderstand. If reading Religious Affections is climbing the face of Mount Everest, reading Sam Storms' interpretation is climbing the rock wall at REI. There is a harness, air conditioning, engineered footholds and an attendant holding the rope, but you'll still sweat.

Storms' timing is excellent. Our generation needs Edwards to help us ground our discernment between the facade of inauthentic Christian profession and the genuine work of God in the soul.

"I doubt if there is a more pressing and urgent issue for the church today than determining `what are the distinguishing qualifications of those that are in favor with God, and entitled to his eternal rewards.' Or to put it in other words, what is the nature of true spirituality and those features in the human soul that are acceptable in the sight of God?" (p. 37)

I think he's right.

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Title: Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' `Religious Affections'
Author: Sam Storms
Reading level: 3.5/5.0 > moderately difficult
Boards: paperback
Pages: 238
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: none
Binding: glue
Paper: normal
Topical index: yes
Scriptural index: yes
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2007
ISBNs: 9781581349320, 1581349327

[review published on The Shepherd's Scrapbook blog]

When I first picked up "Signs of the Spirit" I had a two-fold fear. One was that Storms would dumb-down Edwards for today. He did not. The other was that Storms would misinterpret Edwards and demean Edwards' brilliant understanding of the religious affections. He did not.

Instead, Storms provides the modern reader with a modern reading of "Religious Affections." To this day, no one has done a better job of developing a biblical psychology of human longings than Jonathan Edwards. Storms work has the potential to introduce a new generation of readers to the relational-spiritual longings, thirsts, desires, and affections implanted into the soul by God.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.

This was an excellent book. As you know, it is an interpretation of Jonathan Edward's book "Religious Affections" - written around 1750. It is deals with what Christian Conversion is and how we can know that others and ourselves have been genuinely converted. The author Sam Storms is good to give the historical and theological context of this book. In so doing, he greatly increases the significance and meaning to what Jonathan Edward's wrote. Without this background, this book would have lost much of its meaning.

I note 5 background events: 1) Jonathan Edwards was in the middle of 2 or 3 large Revivals or Awakenings in America, there were differing views on their genuineness and what was really happening, 2) religion by the established church at the time was often cold and purely intellectual, 3) Jonathan Edward's had an argument with his parents concerning the nature of conversion that lasted 18 months, 4) there was a particular preacher that vehemently opposed Jonathan Edward's teachings on conversion, and 5) he left his church because he wanted to question the genuineness of his parishioners before they partook of communion.

Jonathan Edwards made 2 lists of Signs - one being a list of Indefinite Signs and the one a list of Definite Signs. The Indefinite list was a list of signs that could be true of both believers and non-believers. The Indefinite Signs were real; but since they could be true of non-believers as well, they could not be used to show that a person was truly converted. Below is my summary of the 2 lists. I made this list to help me summarize what Jonathan Edwards was saying and hopefully I can actually use this in a Sunday school class. My summary could certainly be improved upon.

1. 12 Indefinite Signs of Conversion
a. Intensity of Heart not a sign of Affections
b. Physical Activity not a sign of Affections
c. Much Talk not a sign of Affections
d. The way you came to have Affections not a sign of Affections
e. Scriptural Text comes to mind not a sign of Affections
f. Displays of Love not a sign of Affections
g. Much Activity not a sign of Affections
h. Order of experiences not a sign of Affections
i. Fervency of Worship not a sign of Affections
j. Vocal Praise of God not a sign of Affections
k. Profound Assurance not a sign of Affections
l. Attractiveness of Life Style not a sign of Affections

2. 12 Definite Signs of Conversion
a. Spirit-Led Affections
b. God-Focused Affections
c. God's-Holiness Affections
d. Spirit-Enlightened Affections
e. Spirit-Assured Affections
f. Godly-Brokenhearted Affections
g. Spirit-Transformed Affections
h. Christ-Like Affections
i. God-Sensitive Affections
j. God-Balanced Affections
k. God-Craving Affections
l. Godly-Fruit-Bearing Affections

The author has about 40 pages showing how Edward's described his own conversion. Jonathan Edwards was truly a unique individual. The book concludes with a chronological history of Edward's life. It is very interesting.

While I find this book to be very good, I am not sure that everyone who buys it will actually read it. The subject matter - while excellent is very focused and some people will not be able to finish it. While I was reading this book, I kept wondering, where can I ever use this material? I want to be able share this in a SS lesson. That is why I summarized the 2 lists (see above). I want to be able to summarize what I read so that I can share with others at church.

Storms work is instructional, encouraging, and challenging. His interpretation of Edwards, "Affections" was very readable. Edwards observations are incredibly contemporary. Every Christian would benefit from reading this book. I am glad Storms took the time to make it more accessible. Thanks, Dr. Storms!!

In a day in which many professing believers assume their conversion is genuine because they walked an aisle and signed a card, Signs of the
Spirit serves as a helpful guide in discerning true spiritual life from forgery and Christian nominalism.

During a time of revival and awakening, when it seemed as though everybody was demonstrating signs of spiritual fervor and life, Jonathan Edwards penned "the most important and accurate analysis of religious experience ever written" (p. 21). Edwards sought to determine what the true nature of spiritual life is and how to tell when it was merely outward. "Forged in the fires of revival in eighteenth century New England", Edwards discernment into the essence of true spirituality addresses a serious modern need. Storms doubts if there is "a more pressing and urgent issue for the church today" (p. 37).

I am nearly done reading Signs of the Spirit, a book which provides an interpretation of two of Jonathan Edwards writings, Religious Affections, as well as Personal Narrative.

What, according to Jonathan Edwards is the essence of true spirituality? Nothing less than religious affections. Storms begins his analysis of Edwards by citing 1 Peter 1:8, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory". This verse serves as a theme for the entire book, in which Edwards maintains a strict balance, avoiding emotionalism on the other hand and rationalism on the other.

"And of what does true spirituality consist? Peter identifies two things: love for Jesus and joy in Jesus. Though his readers did not see Christ with the physical eye, their spiritual vision was one of unashamed and extravagant affection for the Son of God. Though their outward suffering was grievous and painful, their inner joy was a pleasure of such depth that no trial could diminish it" (p. 39-40).

This seems to be the mark of a genuine believer. Not one who walks an aisle and professes to be a Christian, but one whose true and deepening joy in God is forged through the pains of life, and yet cannot be suppressed. The genius of Edwards is that he rules out the stoic and rationalist as much as he does the prosperity seeker. We will address this in later posts, but for now it will suffice to say that Jonathan Edwards was just as intolerant of people who denounced revival for fear of its excess as he was on those unwisely commended it all as genuine, without exercising discernment.

Although his opponents were offended at "fanatical excess in the behavior of those who participated in revival", and argued that it was an "enlightened mind, and not raised affections, ought to be the guide" (p. 31) of true spirituality, Edwards maintained that "true religion, in great part, consist in holy affections" (p. 33) not merely mental assent. But, as Storms also mentions, Edwards also avoided thoughtless emotionalism, and his "exaltation of the affections was never at the expense of reason" (p. 31).

When speaking about 1 Peter 1:8: "From Peter's incredible utterance, we may draw the conclusion that true spirituality or true religion consists in great measure in holy affections. Or again, 'when religion appeared in them most in its genuine excellency and native beauty, and was found to praise, and honor, and glory, [Peter] singles out the religious affections of love and joy, that were then in exercise in them. These are the exercises of religion he takes notice of, wherein their religion did thus appear true and pure and in its proper glory" (p. 40-41).

I would highly recommend this book, and invite you to return for future reviews.
* This review taken from the Resurgence Blog (see my profile).

"Signs of The Spirit - an interepretation of Jonathan Edwards' Religous Affections" by Sam Storms is basically a paraphrase of Jonathan Edwards' "Religous Affections." A very good one.

Counting this book - this will be the third time in a year that I've read this work by Edwards in one version or another. I'm not sure why I keep being drawn back to this particular work. This time around is primarily because I am becoming a big fan of Sam Storms and this is his latest book - but there is still something about it that is incredibly realistic when approaching the sincerity of one's faith. Like Edwards I struggle with my own sincerity and genuiness - constantly fighting against personal hypocracy and self-centeredness. When I measure my faith and personal walk with God by using this stuff - I see how far off from Him I am - and am greatly humbled by it. This is necessary for a true understanding of how sin needs to be dealt with - through Christ.

A lot of people aren't in favor of paraphrasing Edwards' works into modern day language - but I for one am all for it. Sam Storm does a great job of breaking this book down so that I could completely understand it. Before reading this book - I could only understand about 50% of the origonal.

Edwards lays out about 12 "signs" that a person can use to determine the sincerity of his own faith - and I think it is important to differentiate between one's OWN vice someone else's. I just don't think its a productive thing to do to go around trying to judge the sincerity of a brother's faith. I also don't think that is the intent of Edwards either. There are also some signs Edwards lists that MAY be fruits of a sincere faith but not necessarily. Its a very powerful book to read and without the hard edge of Shepard's "Parable of The Ten Virgins."

Storms also includes all of Edwards' "Personal Narrative" in the second section of the book. This part of Edwards' writings were left in their original with Storms commenting extensively on them. Its a great addition to the work because when you read Edwards' narrative you really get the sense that he applied the principals in the "Religous Affections" to his own life.

One thing missing from the book is the constant and continuous references to Thomas Shepard's "Parable of The Ten Virgins" which you will see in the original text outright. I'm not sure why Storms left this out - probably because it wasn't necessary to the point - but I think it really is a great idea to read that book to see how it incredibly influenced Edwards.

I really enjoyed this book - and hope that folks like Storms will step up to the plate and put some more writings of Edwards and others like him into a modern day readable format for average joe's like me.

Sam Storms has provided us with a true gift: an honest scholarly attempt and interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' classic work "Religious Affections". For me, Religious Affections seemed too much to chew. Here, Storms, with great humility and care to maintain the original intent and depth of "Affections", provides an honest and useful interpretation of the original work in modern colloquial English. I am confident I still have much to gain by reading Edwards' work, just as I am confident that Storms' faithful work here has helped whet my appetite for it.

At last! An Edwards you can read that is faithful to his original intents. Storms has done an excellent job here by sifting through and interpreting Edwards into more a common, digestible English that has left so many readers via Edwards unusual 18th century style. Where Edwards is complex, wordy or uses a series of comma splices there Storms is to clear up the confusion. Beyond the edits, Storms leaves Edwards' original text alone in many instances (say 40% of the original) where Edwards is brief and clear. What is left is a wonderful read, that is thoroughly biblical, Christ centered and represents the heart of the Christian faith. It is by far one of the purest presentations of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! This book is absolute must read for every Christian - particularly elders, pastors, and church leaders.

Sam Storms, Signs of the Spirit, An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 2007)

Even among books on theological subjects, this volume is just a bit odd. It is not a commentary on the work by Jonathan Edwards cited in the title. And, since Edwards' work was written in English, it is certainly not a translation. Like some renderings of the Bible, Storms' book is a paraphrase of Edwards' work, in modern English.

This effort is, or should be, immensely appreciated by our modern Christian lay faithful (I'm assuming a seminary trained person would be held responsible for reading Edwards' original words) as it answers a question which has puzzled me ever since I began attending congregational and synod-wide meetings. As I've put it, the question is `How do you tell the difference between someone who is truly imbued with the Holy Spirit, and a loose cannon?' My personal experience is as that of a loose cannon, so I'm not sure I can answer that question from my own experience.

Storms, a pastor and part-time professor of theology at Wheaton College in Illinois, has done us the service of making available to us an important piece of evidence showing what made Jonathan Edwards the foremost American theologian, and on the short list of the most important American thinkers. Our problem with Edwards may be that he preached and advocated a form of Calvinism which was very close to the strict, conservative, pre-destination oriented doctrines of John Calvin and the other early Swiss reformers. He did this at a time when his own New England Congregationalist pastors, several of whom were his cousins, were tending toward the Armenian variety of Reformed theology, (softened the doctrine of predestination by claiming that humans could reject election, which was also conditional on faith in the sacrifice and Lordship of Jesus Christ).

Religious Affections was especially topical, as it was written in 1746, following the two great rounds of religious enthusiasm which sprang up in 1735 and 1741--42, sparked by the preaching of Edwards himself (See Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) and George Whitefield, a travelling English Anglican revivalist preacher touring New England. The question at that time, amid the great number of people responding enthusiastically to this `fire and brimstone' preaching was, `who was really among the elect'? The question was especially acute in that Edwards' opponents were advocates of a very cerebral approach to belief.

While Edwards' theology was conservative Calvinism, he rebuilt the underpinning of predestination theology on the epistemology of John Locke (1632--1704) and the physics of Isaac Newton, both of which were radically new, totally beyond the ken of Calvin (1509--1564). This makes Edwards' theology far more modern than his Reformer antecedents. To the modern physics, Edwards adds an appreciation for the role of `affection' which went further than his contemporaries.

My first reaction to Edwards' discussion is that he seems to dismiss as not relevant virtually all the signs, twelve in all, we might take as symptoms of `affection' such as the fact that affections `are intense or are raised high in the heart of the person' or `when the affections of the heart have a great influence on the body'. The problem becomes more acute when we read his positive signs of `authentic affections'. Such as `The first objective ground of gracious affections is the transcendently excellent and amiable nature of divine things as they are in themselves, and not any conceived relation they bear to self, or self-interest.' Things get a lot clearer when we get to the later (of twelve) authentic signs, as `When genuine, gracious affections are experienced in high degree, it serves only to intensify one's longing for more. False affections, on the other hand, rest satisfied in themselves.'

In fact, I was less impressed with these criteria than I was with some of Edwards early comments on the very nature of worship, such as `We are not to pray as if our petitions inform God of what he doesn't know or change his mind or prevail on him to bestow mercy that he was otherwise disinclined to give. Rather we pray "to affect our own hearts with the things we express, and so prepare us to receive the blessings we ask." In fact, virtually all external expressions of worship "can be of no further use, than as they have some tendency to affect our own hearts, or the hearts of others."Consider, for example, the singing of praises to God, which seem to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.' I have yet to see the nature and purpose of prayer so well stated as this.

The author has stated that this book, in spite of its difficulty in the original, has been a manual for many contemporary evangelical preachers, and I can hope that with this paraphrase, it will find even greater use. I compared parts of Storm's text to Edwards' original and I have come to be especially grateful for his contribution, as Edwards genius is not in great English prose. You may wish to read the original, but finish and digest the paraphrase before jumping into Edwards' fire with him. My experience is that it is not easy to locate Edwards' source for Storm's paraphrase.