Jonathan Edwards Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher in pre-colonial times, composed a sermon that was driven to alert and inject neo Puritanical fear into an eighteenth century congregation. This Bible based and serious audience sought after religious instruction and enlightenment. Through the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards offers a very harsh interpretation to humankind. Edwards utilizes various rhetorical techniques to evoke an emotional response in his audience and to persuade the members of his congregation that their wicked actions will awaken a very ruthless and merciless God.

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” becomes very effective for the intended audience when knowledge of the customs and traditions that shape the impacted audience

Often in sermons, minister pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or moral fashion. Such in the case in Jonathan Edwards, sinners in the hands of an angry god where he feels sinners should repent for the sins they committed. Edwards wanted to impact his audience by appealing to their fears, pity, and vanity. Edwards had an influential impact on his puritan because of his use of cautionary tone, complex imagery, and constructive figurative language.

Edwards’s uses strong, powerful diction to clearly get his across to the spectators. Jonathan Edwards repetitively uses the word “omnipotent” to visibly tell his audience how powerful God is. Along with that, he repetitively uses the phrase “God’s wrath” along with words such as “fury, despair and destruction”. Edwards actually describes God’s wrath by commonly using words as dreadful, glowing, wickedness, black and vengeance. By the usage of these words and phrases, Edwards indicates that God is angered and furious of our actions. However to point out God’s generosity, Jonathan Edwards commonly uses the word “mercy”. By using the word “mercy”, Edwards indicates that since God made his worshipers, he is giving them an opportunity to repent and amend their ways or destruction is unpreventable. Mr. Edwards also uses words as “mourn, howl, hopeless and sober,” to specify the listeners reactions upon hearing Edwards’s sermon. Edwards use of influential words leave the spectators mourning and groaning in great despair. Edwards employs all these words through the emotional appeal of ethos. This is what causes a great impact upon the listeners at the church.

Preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, proclaims to the audience that they are all sinners, and God can easily toss them into hell. This was during the Great Awakening, a time of religious revival in colonial America. Edwards’s purpose is to tell the audience the flaws of the Israelites and explain how the members of the congregation are destined for hell if they do not convert and repent for their sins. He adopts an aggressive tone in order to instill fear of God in his congregation.

This quote imposes fear on the people who feel that they may be safe because God has never shown anger towards them. People think back

Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was a persuasive speech during the Great Awakening. His sermons persuaded people to convert to the church immediately to avoid damnation of a wrathful God. Fearful of Hell, Edwards managed to save the Puritan church and those who strayed

Jonathan Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is moving and powerful. His effectiveness as an eighteenth century New England religious leader is rooted in his expansive knowledge of the Bible and human nature, as well as a genuine desire to "awaken" and save as many souls as possible. This sermon, delivered in 1741, exhibits Edwards's skillful use of these tools to persuade his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs.

In the era that Jonathan Edwards wrote his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, things were much simpler. There was no Internet, cable television, or even electricity. To hear news and ideas, they had to be delivered on paper or by word of mouth. New news would be old news by the time it reached whoever wanted it, and it also meant that the story could be changed and only heard in one point of view. “Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God” was written to “awaken” colonists to their sins. Because the sermon is written with point of view of one preacher, many people heard it and took it upon themselves to make it their opinion too. Armed with his highly persuasive sermon, Jonathan Edwards shaped generations of religious lecturing traditions.

To begin, Edwards uses a particular simile to describe God’s fury. On page 47, Edwards compares God’s wrath to water. “The wrath of God is like Great Waters that are damned for the present, they increase more and rise higher…”. The water God is being compared to is rising overtime, and soon the dam holding the water will soon breakdown, causing the water (or God’s fury) to unleash. The large amount of water will cause massive destruction when it breaks just like God’s wrath. Edwards has an anticipation of God’s wrath to crash soon on sinners.

Sinners in the Hands of a Graceful God When one thinks of Jonathan Edwards text Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, one might quickly imagine ideas of wrath, anger, and hell. Converse to popular opinion, Jonathan Edwards’s text primarily focuses on and positively emphasizes God’s divine attributes such as His love, compassion, grace, mercy, and patience rather than His anger and wrath. It is true that the sermon does talk about God’s anger directed toward sinners, but the true message that Edwards is displaying is one of God’s grace.

In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards displays controversial viewpoints and ideas concerning heaven and hell. As Edwards speaks to the congregation he warns them of the misery and suffering they will face if they do not repent of certain sins. He also describes God as angry which probably struck fear into the hearts on many. To illustrate his own point that hell is unenviable without repentance Jonathan Edwards creates the idea of an angry God using intense similes, a harsh tone, and strong emotional appeal in “Sinners in the hand of an Angry God”.

To some, God is a figure as warm and loving as a father. To others however, with every fiber of His being, God hates us and will send us to Hell on a whim. Jonathan Edwards’ purpose in giving the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was to persuade his audience to accept Jesus Christ and repent for their sins. A listener of Edwards’ sermon will immediately notice his ethos, vivid imagery, and juxtaposition toward the end.

Jonathan Edwards Sermon “ Sinners in the Hands of an angry god” contributed into the Great Awakening, showing that Hell was real, and whoever defied god was put down. Edwards used dark imagery to get his our heads, the meaning that everyone is predestined and anyone can be sent to hell. Edwards says in his sermon that “ God's enemies are easily broken into pieces, they are a heap of light chaff before the whirlwind”(2). Edwards hoped that the imagery and language of his sermon would awaken audiences to the horrific reality that he believed awaited them, should they continue life without their devotion to Christ? This made many people horrified and help start the great Awakening, making Christians more aware of the power of Christ, and increase their devotion to Christ.

Jonathan Edwards, a negative and realistic man, focused on how God is a judgemental god and sinners will be put to a painful death, they should be fearful. He says in the first few lines of his speech, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, “So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit.” (Edwards, Pg. 23) Edwards implies that everyone deserves to be in hell and he goes on to say that God is an angry God and that no one had done anything to try to ease His anger. Edwards also played a large role in the Great Awakening. He wanted people to experience Christianity in an intense and emotional way. In his speech, he said, “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.” (Edwards, Pg. 26) Edward’s speech was opportunity knocking at everyone’s doors. He influenced people to want to be saved in a way that made many fearful of what could happen to them if they weren’t saved or a child of God. Edwards believed that God set the world in motion, but was not active in everyone’s life. Edwards believed that God created the world and