SinnerS inGod’S Hand

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Course SGH (Complete)

Name: _______________________________ Student ID: ________ Date: _________

Mount Zion BiBle institute

Instructions for this courseThe reading material for this course is Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards, with supplements from the pens of the Westminster Assembly (1646), Thomas Boston (1720), and Charles Spurgeon (1857)—three centuries of biblical truth.

Before each lesson: pray for God to give a teachable heart and understanding.Begin the lesson by reading the related section in this study guide.

Answer the questions for the corresponding lesson in this study guide.Use the required answer sheet format, putting your name and course informa-

tion on each sheet (sample after the Table of Contents). Use any standard note paper (or the answer booklets if provided).

Skip a line between answers.Always use your own words in your answers.Try to be as clear and concise as possible.Please do not rush! Meditate on what God wants you to learn.Don’t go to the next question until completing the current one.

If, and only if, you are taking the course as correspondence study (with written feed-back from others):After completing all the lessons, send the completed answer sheets to your course coordinator.

Only mail your answers sheets, not other materials.All sent answers are handled confidentially.Label the envelope’s lower left with: student ID, course, and lesson numbers.

Continue taking the course until all lessons are completed.Two months are allotted for course completion. Extensions may be granted upon request.

Your answer sheets are returned to you after review.Keep all materials and returned answers together for future reference.

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Sample Answer Sheet

___________ ________ SGH ______ _____ Your name Student ID Course Lesson Date

number number

Question Answer

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____________________________________________ skip a line between questions

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All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.

© Copyright 2015 Chapel Library: annotations, questions. Printed in the USA. Permission is expressly granted to reproduce this material by any means, provided

1. you do not charge beyond a nominal sum for cost of duplication 2. this copyright notice and all the text on this page are included.

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For more information about this study guide, other Bible study materials, and correspond-ence courses (often based on texts from prior centuries), please contact

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MZBI courses may be downloaded worldwide without charge from www.ChapelLibrary.org.

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1 Westminster Larger Catechism – questions and answers prepared by the Westminster As-

sembly in 1646 for use by ministers in teaching the doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith in the pulpit. There was also a Shorter Catechism prepared for use by fathers in in-structing their children.

2 covenant of works – the agreement God established with Adam in the Garden of Eden before his fall into sin. It established man’s obligation to obey God with the penalty of

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death for disobedience (Gen 2:16-17); cf. The Covenants of Works and of Grace by Walt Chantry, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.

3 His secrets – God’s mysterious truths and ways that He has chosen not to reveal clearly in His Word.

4 carnal – fleshly; of man’s ability without God. 5 means – methods by which something is accomplished.

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6 apostatizing – abandoning one’s profession of the Christian faith. 7 dispensations – God’s arrangement of events by divine rule and care. 8 walking – understanding and practice of the Christian life.

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9 physic – medicine. 10 succoring – assisting; helping.

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11 continency – self control. 12 conjugal – marital. 13 stews – brothels; houses of prostitution. 14 lascivious – sensual; lustful. 15 The modern equivalent would be sensual television programs and movies. 16 sustentation of our nature – maintenance of our physical health and living conditions. 17 suretyship – the act of one undertaking responsibility for someone else’s debt. 18 land marks – property boundaries. Before civil government began keeping property

records, ownership of land was known by markers placed at the corners of the area.

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19 prodigality – reckless extravagance in spending; wastefulness. 20 gaming – gambling. 21 estate – property and possessions; assets. 22 judicature – legal proceedings. 23 suborning – bribing; soliciting with evil intent. 24 wittingly – knowingly.

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1 From Human Nature in Its Fourfold State (1720), available from The Banner of Truth Trust,

www.banneroftruth.org. Thomas Boston (1676-1732): Scottish Presbyterian minister and scholar. Author of Notes to the Marrow of Modern Divinity (1726), and many other treatises and sermons. Born in Duns, Berwickshire.

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2 fountain – source; as a spring bubbling up is the source of a stream flowing out from it. 3 regeneration – God’s act of creating new life in a sinner by the power of the Holy Spirit,

resulting in repentance and faith in Christ and holiness of life; the new birth. 4 quite – completely.

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5 sluice – gate used in controlling water flow in a stream or channel. 6 manifold – of many kinds, numerous and varied.

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7 wanting – lacking.

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8 providence – often referred to by men as “circumstance.” “God’s works of providence are

His most holy (Psa 145:17), wise (Isa 28:29), and powerful (Heb 1:3) preserving and gov-erning all His creatures and all their actions (Psa 103:19; Mat 10:29).” (Spurgeon’s Cate-chism, Q.11; available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.)

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1 This sermon was preached to the small congregation at Enfield, Connecticut, on July 8,

1741. Many consider it one of the greatest sermons ever preached. The congregation re-sponded in deep silence and tears under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, part of the Great Awakening in America.

2 means of grace – instruments that God is pleased to use in order to accomplish salvation and sanctification in the hearts of men: the preaching of the Word, Bible reading and study, prayer, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, family worship, singing, and godly fellowship with believers.

3 void of counsel – “have not wisdom to direct themselves, nor discretion to desire and re-ceive counsel from others, but rashly and madly go on in those courses which will certain-ly ruin them.”—Matthew Poole (1624-1679), English Nonconformist theologian, Commentary (Deu 32:28).

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4 want – lack.

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5 See Deu 4:25, 6:15, 31:17; Jos 23:16; Job 9:12-13; Psa 85:4; Isa 48:22, 57:21; Jer 7:20;

Jon 3:9; Mic 7:18; and Mat 5:22, 10:28, 11:23, 18:9, 23:33; Luk 12:5, 16:23-26; Rev 6:8, 20:13-14.

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6 carnal – fleshly; sensual, as opposed to spiritual. 7 reigning power – that which controls someone or something, which is not possible to resist

or overcome. 8 damned souls – those who are in hell already.

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9 providence – often referred to by men as “circumstance.” “God’s works of providence are

His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions (Psa 103:19; Mat 10:29).” (Spurgeon’s Catechism, Q.11)

10 politic – crafty; cunning.

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11 covenant of grace – God’s gracious, eternal purpose of redemption, conceived before the

creation of the world, first announced in Genesis 3:15, progressively revealed in history, accomplished in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, the benefit of which is applied to all that believe in Him (Gen 3:15; Gen 12:1-3; 2Sa 7:5-17; Jer 31:31-34; Gal 3).

12 Mediator – a go-between; “It pleased God in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus His only begotten Son, according to the Covenant made between them both, to be the Mediator between God and Man; the Prophet, Priest and King; Head and Savior of His Church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world: Unto whom He did from all Eternity give a people to be His seed, and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.”—1689 London Baptist Confession 8.1; see also “Christ the Mediator,” Free Grace Broadcaster #183; both available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.

13 seeking and knocking – Some believe that salvation comes from praying a prayer, walking an aisle, “inviting” Christ to come in, or something else that they can decide to do. Reve-lation 3:20 is sometimes used this way: “I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear

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my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” But this verse refers to fellowship of believers with Christ, not salvation of a lost sinner (see context). The key in salvation is to “repent and believe” (Mat 21:32; Mar 1:15; Act 19:4) and to call upon the name of the Lord to ask Him to save (Joh 1:12-13; Rom 10:13).

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14 Omnipotence – God in His infinite power. “The all-powerfulness of God, His unlimited

ability to act according to His own perfect will”—Dictionary of Theological Terms, Alan Cairns, 313.

15 This is to emphasize the feeling of receiving the wrath of God, as compared to the wrath of men when they are filled with rage out of control. It is not to imply that God’s wrath is ever out of control with blind rage, but only to help in understanding the fierceness those will feel who receive it.

16 ineffable – too great to be described in words. 17 dolorous – showing great sorrow or distress.

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18 doleful – sorrowful; mournful; full of grief and sadness. 19 God’s holiness is infinite. His wrath against impurity is demonstrated in proportion to His

purity. If He were not so pure, His wrath would not be as great.

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20 pining – mourning; grieving. 21 dispensations – ordering or arrangement of events by divine government and care.

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1 From “The Wisdom of God Displayed in the Way of Salvation” in The Works of Jonathan

Edwards, Vol. 2, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust. 2 pitched upon – determined. 3 requisite – required by the nature of things.

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4 This first part of the paragraph has been rephrased to improve understanding. The origi-

nal: “None but one of infinite wisdom could have thought of Him to be a redeemer of sinners. For He, as He is God, is one of the Persons offended by sin against Whom man by his sin had rebelled. Who but God infinitely wise could ever have thought of Him to be a redeemer of sinners, against Whom they had sinned, to Whom they were enemies, and of Whom they deserved infinitely ill? Who would ever have thought of Christ…”

5 room – place.

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6 incarnation – (Latin: incarnatio “taking on flesh”); “The act whereby the eternal Son of

God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, without ceasing to be what he is, God the Son, took into union with himself what he before that act did not possess, a human na-ture, ‘and so [He] was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person, forever’ (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 21).” (Walter Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 601)

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7 arraigned – called before a court to answer charges made against Him. 8 wonderful – full of astonishment.

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9 expedient – appropriate to the purpose. 10 malefactor – criminal.

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11 From a sermon delivered on Sabbath morning, July 19, 1857, at the Music Hall, Royal

Surrey Gardens; London, England. Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): Influential Eng-lish Baptist pastor. History’s most widely read preacher (apart from those found in Scrip-ture). Today, there is available more material written by Spurgeon than by any other Christian author, living or dead. Born at Kelvedon, Essex, England.

12 bar – tribunal; court of justice. 13 transposition – reversal of order. 14 unsullied – spotless.

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15 typically – representing something else as a symbol with similar characteristics. 16 elect – those chosen by God for salvation (see Rom 8-9; Joh 6:27, 39, 65; Eph 1:4-5, 11).

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17 immaculate – spotless; undefiled; in the case of Christ, free from original sin. 18 imputed – put onto one’s account apart from one’s earning it. 19 unabated – continuing at full strength.

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20 From “Great Guilt No Obstacle to the Pardon of the Returning Sinner” in The Works of

Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust.

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21 backward – unwilling; reluctant.

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