Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 58:3 (Sep 2015)
Article: The Son In The Hands Of A Violent God? Assessing Violence In Jonathan Edwards’s Covenant Of Redemption
Author: Christopher Woznicki

JETS 58:3 (September 2015) p. 583

The Son In The Hands Of A Violent God? Assessing Violence In Jonathan Edwards’s Covenant Of Redemption

Christopher Woznicki*

* Christopher Woznicki is online instructor at Eternity Bible College and Th.M. student at Fuller Theological Seminary, 135 North Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.

“The great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance…”1

I. Introduction

Among laypeople Jonathan Edwards is best known for his hellfire and brimstone sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Because of this sermon Edwards is often caricatured as an angry Puritan. This is unfortunate for Edwards, since in last several years there has been a backlash toward those who see any anger or violence in God; one need only do a quick search on any theological library’s database to see that this is so. This backlash is especially articulated in many contemporary atonement theologies. For instance, several prominent Anabaptist and feminist theologians have put forth their own non-violent theologies of atonement. Even among evangelicals one can find atonement theologies that try to avoid the problem of violence as much as possible.2 The evangelical hesitancy toward violence in the atonement is especially seen in the recent questioning of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). According to Oliver Crisp, opponents of PSA claim that it “paints a picture of God as a bloodthirsty tyrant who must visit retribution upon sinners, as well as depicting God as committing unspeakable abuse upon his own Son in visiting the punishment for human sin upon the innocent God-man.”3 The problem with PSA is that it depicts God as an angry and violent God, especially toward the Son.

As I pointed out above, Jonathan Edwards has been read as painting a picture of an “angry God.” However, we might want to ask, “Does Edwards depict God as being a ‘violent God’?” Some of the most interesting arguments against depicting God as a violent God have come from feminist theologians. If we put these accusations under careful scrutiny, it becomes evident that they can also be made against Reformed understandings of the Covenant of Redemption. In this paper, I would

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like to answer the question: “Is the Covenant of Redemption in Jonathan Edwards’s theology a form of violence by the Father against the Son?”

In order to answer this question, we must begin with some preliminary definitions. We will begin by defining the Covenant of Redemption (COR); then ...