Student Question
What is the point of view and overall effect in Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?
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Question : What is the overall effect of Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?" Answer : The general effect of this sermon is to drive home the point that God's wrath is just as terrible as his love for us. In order to properly appreciate God, we must understand both His grace and His power. As Edwards says, "The wrath of God burns against them." He then goes on to explain in great detail what this means. The overall effect of this speech was to scare people into accepting Christ. They were so frightened that they cried out for salvation from their sins, and many were converted at that time.
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was written by Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan minister who wrote this sermon in 1741. He believed in reawakening Puritans to devotion and warning them that hell awaited those who sinned or those who thought simply living a good life could prevent their damnation.
Edwards was part of the first Great Awakening, a religious movement that swept New England and other areas in the 1730s and 1740s. The Puritans sensed a decline in people's religiosity, and the Great Awakening was an attempt to reawaken people's belief in the potential of God to decide their fate. Much of the preaching during the time period was fiery sermons designed to awaken listener's beliefs and to convert them to a personal commitment to Christ.
Edwards's point of view is that only God's grace keeps people from the fiery pits of hell. In one...
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of many graphic portions of the speech, Edwards wrote:
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. A Sermon Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741.
"So that it is not because God is unmindful of their Wickedness, and don’t resent it, that he don’t let loose his Hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as themselves, tho’ they may imagine him to be so. The Wrath of God burns against them, their Damnation don’t slumber, the Pit is prepared, the Fire is made ready, the Furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the Flames do now rage and glow. The glittering Sword is whet, and held over them, and the Pit hath opened her Mouth under them."
The image is very arresting in this passage. Edwards says that people are ready to fall into the fiery pits of hell, and the sword dangles above them. Sinners are only still alive because God has not yet decreed that their time for punishment has come.
Edwards's audience was greatly affected hearing this speech, given in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In fact, many in the audience cried out to be saved. His rousing words and images are regarded as iconic in the first Great Awakening because they roused people to recommit themselves to their faith in a new and more fervent way.
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