The “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon is one of the most famous sermons ever preached in American history. It was delivered by Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan preacher, on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards aimed to awaken his audience to the reality of hell and God’s wrath against sin. This sermon is an important example of a Calvinist view of salvation which emphasizes God’s sovereignty and human depravity.
The main theme of the sermon is that unrepentant sinners deserve eternal damnation in hell. Edwards argues that all people are totally depraved and can do nothing to save themselves. Their fate rests completely in God’s hands. At any moment, God could let go and allow sinners to fall into the fires of hell. According to Edwards, the only thing keeping wicked people from this fate is God’s mercy and grace. However, God will not hold back his wrath forever. The sermon warns people to turn away from sin and turn to Christ to escape damnation.
To drive home the reality of hell, Edwards uses vivid imagery and weighty metaphors. He compares unrepentant sinners to loathsome spiders and snakes dangling over a fiery pit by a slender thread. God holds their lives in his hand and can cut the thread at any moment. Sinners deserve no mercy as they have offended God’s holiness. Edwards describes hell as “dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God” and says the wicked will be engulfed in “infinite flames” and “lake of fire and brimstone.” The flames of hell are everlasting and unrelenting. Edwards intends to instill fear in his listeners to provoke them towards repentance.
Edwards also emphasizes God’s sovereignty over salvation. He argues that God does not owe anyone grace or mercy. God saves people solely because of his good pleasure and will, not because people deserve it. No one earns salvation through good works. Edwards points out that the wicked continuously store up more wrath for themselves. However, God can sovereignly choose to save people through the blood of Christ. Yet even this offer of salvation depends on God enabling a person’s heart to respond in saving faith.
To demonstrate God’s sovereignty, Edwards uses the metaphor of an arrow shot into the air by an archer. Just as the arrow’s trajectory depends fully on the archer’s will, people’s eternal destiny depends fully on God’s sovereign will. For the elect whom God saves, it is only due to God’s grace. For the wicked whom God condemns, it is wholly God’s choice to withhold his mercy from them.
Edwards applied these warnings specifically to unconverted people in the congregation. He argued they were dangling over the pit of hell held only by God’s arbitrary will. They could be plunged into hell flames at any instant. Edwards challenged them to reflect deeply on their perilous state. His goal was to awake sinners to turn from their wickedness and believe the gospel.
The “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon had a profound impact in Edwards’ day. It is believed that many people repented of their sins and trusted in Christ after hearing it preached. This revival effect was part of the First Great Awakening happening in the American colonies. The sermon remains influential today as a preeminent example of colonial era preaching that emphasizes divine wrath and judgement against sin.
Major Points of the Sermon
Edwards makes several key points in the sermon to highlight the dire condition of unredeemed sinners:
- God’s wrath abides on unrepentant sinners – They are objects of God’s anger and condemnation. (John 3:36)
- People deserve eternal hell because of their sin – All humanity is depraved and wicked before a holy God. (Romans 3:10-18)
- God does not owe anyone salvation – He saves by His sovereign choice. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
- Christ’s blood is the only remedy for sin – Faith in Christ is the only way of salvation. (John 14:6)
- God can cast wicked people into hell at any moment – Their lives hang by a thread. (Luke 12:20)
- Hell is an awful and eternal reality – Hell involves unrelenting and conscious torments. (Mark 9:48)
- God’s patience with sinners will not last forever – His judgement could come suddenly. (2 Peter 3:9-10)
- People must repent before it is too late – Judgement day will arrive unexpectedly. (Revelation 20:11-15)
By stressing these points, Edwards sought to impress upon his listeners the urgency of escaping God’s judgement through faith in the gospel. His vivid depictions of hell highlighted the temporary nature of earthly life and the eternality of the next life.
Selected Excerpts from the Sermon
Here are some key excerpts from the sermon text that illustrate Edwards’ powerful use of imagery and metaphor:
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf.
The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice directs the bow to your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.
The flames of divine wrath are glowing around you, ready to scorch you up, and you are in great danger every day of being suddenly snatched away, and drowned in everlasting burnings.
You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder.
These vivid examples give a taste of how Edwards sought to impress upon his listeners the urgency of escaping God’s fiery judgement and wrath.
Historical Context Behind the Sermon
To fully understand Edwards’ sermon, it is helpful to examine the historical context in which he preached it:
- Part of the First Great Awakening – This revival movement began in the 1730s led by preachers like George Whitefield. Edwards preached the sermon at the height of the revivals in 1741.
- Predestination was a Calvinist belief – As a Calvinist, Edwards believed God predestined the eternal fate of souls. This shaped his emphasis on God’s sovereignty.
- Response to Deism’s growing influence – Deism downplayed God’s active intervention. Edwards stressed God’s wrath to counteract this.
- Hellfire preaching had long tradition – Puritan preachers like Cotton Mather also used frightful imagery to depict hell.
- Frontier isolation of colonial life – Edwards sought to shake people from spiritual complacency endemic to rural life.
Considering these circumstances sheds light on why Edwards preached such a stern sermon to instill deep religious concern in his frontier congregation.
Edwards’ Theology and Philosophy
As a prominent Calvinist theologian, Jonathan Edwards held to some key theological beliefs that shaped the content of this famous sermon:
- Total depravity of man – Humanity is completely tainted by sin and unable to save itself.
- Sovereignty of God – Salvation depends completely on God’s sovereign choice.
- Reality of hell – Hell is a literal place of eternal conscious torment for the wicked.
- Penal substitutionary atonement – Christ died as a substitute sacrifice to appease God’s wrath against sin.
- Justification by faith alone – People are saved from wrath only through faith in Christ’s work.
As an Enlightenment thinker, Edwards also believed in using vivid sensory language to stir deep emotions and imagination. This shaped his heavy use of imagery of flames, pits, spiders, and arrows throughout the sermon.
Later Influence of the Sermon
The “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon has had an enduring impact even long after Edwards’ lifetime:
- Played a role in sparking the Second Great Awakening revival in early 1800s.
- Used as an example of “fire and brimstone” preaching in American history.
- Inspired later evangelists like Billy Graham and George Whitefield.
- Classic portrayal of Calvinist views of salvation and human depravity.
- Highlighted tensions around predestination doctrine.
- Criticized by later generations as overly harsh and literally depictions of hell.
The sermon remains one of the most famous individual sermons ever preached in American history. It continues to be analyzed as a powerful example of colonial era theology and philosophy.
Core Message for Today’s Readers
When interpreting a historical sermon like this, present-day readers must account for differences in time and culture. Edwards’ vivid hellfire imagery is less compelling to modern people. However, readers today can still reflect on core ideas such as:
- God hates sin – All people fall short of God’s perfect holiness. (Romans 3:23)
- Reality of judgement – God will judge everyone in perfect justice. (Hebrews 9:27)
- Christ is the only way – Faith in Christ’s sacrifice is the only path of salvation. (John 14:6)
- All need repentance – Turning from sin is an urgent matter. (Acts 17:30)
- God’s patience is not unlimited – No one is guaranteed more chances to repent. (2 Peter 3:9)
- Life on earth is fleeting – Eternal issues are of utmost importance. (James 4:14)
While Edwards’ imagery and style does not appeal to everyone, these theological truths remain as relevant as ever for readers seeking to understand the gospel message.