"Rules to Discern a True Work of God" - Jonathan Edwards
In writing, he endeavored to establish before all certain biblical rules on how to discern if a work of revival in any location is of the Devil or from the Holy Spirit of God (Jn. 16:8-11).
Sean Michael Morris·Aug 19, 2020·Updated Sep 3, 2026
Jonathan Edwards is very celebrated today. However, this wasn't always the case for the renowned American Theologian. When a sovereign move of God broke out among his people, and Edwards saw firsthand the working of the Holy Spirit through preaching to powerfully and suddenly get men lost and saved, something quite "unexpected" happened: PERSECUTION.
It turns out that not all who prayed for a "Revival" leading up the the First Great Awakening were willing to welcome it once it came Many false accusers and slanderers outright denied the work of God that was underway and claimed it was of demonic origin. Therefore, Edwards, in the throes of a work of God in his city, was forced to make a formal defense of what was happening. In writing, he endeavored to establish before all certain biblical rules on how to discern if a work of revival in any location is of the Devil or from the Holy Spirit of God This is the point of emphasis in the following, as a counterargument, when Edwards wrote about "the Spirit that is at work" - in an excerpt taken from Section III from Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. Furthermore, for simplicity, I have taken liberty to numerically format the argument of Edwards to emphasize 5 primary observations or characteristics that prove a work of religion to be of God by the Holy Spirit.
“As to this work, there are many things concerning it that are notorious (commonly reported and known), and which, unless the apostle John was out (in an error) in his rules, are sufficient to determine it to be in general the work of God.
The Spirit that is at work, takes off persons’ minds from the vanities of the world, and engages them in a deep concern about eternal happiness, and puts them upon earnestly seeking their salvation, and convinces them of the dreadfulness of sin, and of their own guilty and miserable state as they are by nature.
It awakens men’s consciences, and makes them sensible of the dreadfulness of God’s anger, and causes in them a great desire and earnest care and endeavour to obtain his favour.
It puts them upon a more diligent improvement of the means of grace which God has appointed; accompanied with a greater regard to the Word of God, a desire of hearing and reading it, and of being more conversant with it than they used to be.
And it is notoriously manifest, that the Spirit that is at work, in general, operates as a Spirit of truth, making persons more sensible of what is really true in those things that concern their eternal salvation: as, that they must die, and that life is very short and uncertain; that there is a great sin-hating god, to whom they are accountable, and who will fix them in an eternal state in another world; and that they stand in great need of a Savior.
It makes persons more sensible of the value of Jesus who was crucified, and their need of him; and that it puts them upon earnestly seeking an interest in him.”
- Jonathan Edwards
This type of discernment is perfectly biblical We, as professors of Christianity, must examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. This is directly mandated by Paul under inspiration in speaking to the backslidden Church of Corinth, saying, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?". Statedly, if the work of God in salvation must be verified through an examination, then there must be a certain way that fallible redeemed men can test and discern the authenticity of a certain work on the basis of concrete grounds. This vindicates what Jonathan Edwards set-out to prove in the First Great Awakening. In slightly different terms, Edwards affirmed the existence of "rules" that "are sufficient to determine" if something is "in general the work of God".
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."— 1 John 4:1
Prove Ye Every Spirit
Prove ye, prove ye ev’ry spirit,
As the Master did command it;
Know their works, not words alone,
Men, as trees, by fruits are known.
Are their fruits, their works and teaching
Based on doctrines Christ was preaching?
Do they love and teach the truth?
Will their wisdom God approve?
Thus their righteousness beholding,
All in outward form unfolding,
Inwardly they will appear
Hostile to Thy children here.
He who lives in true obedience
Can discern the voice and presence
Of such strangers which draw near;
May we flee when they appear.
Though the wolves be ever raging,
Thou Thy fold art still defending.
When such spirits do assail,
We, who know Thee, will prevail.
Lord, do Thou dispel confusion,
Erring ones free from delusion.
Saviour, may Thy fold increase,
Grant us comfort, joy and peace!
Divine benevolence is pleased to make happy sinners sadder with time (Jer. 2:19,2 Cor. 7:8-10). Solomon as a backslider is no exception. Hence, the outburst: “Vanity of vanities…all is vanity.” (Eccl. 1:2)!
He asked his wife to give him a glass of water for he would obtain none where he was going. He drank it; then, looking his wife in the face, exclaimed,"O Martha, Martha, you have sealed my everlasting damnation!"
"I want nothing but hell! Come, O devil, and take me!' At another time he said, 'Oh, what a terrible thing it is! Once I might, and would not: now I would and must not."
Perhaps you don't bow before a relic or kneel before an emblem of a Cross like Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Or perhaps you don't find religious serenity in a stately building of aesthetic appeal.
Job is popular today, and referenced often by peace preachers, because it seems that people have never been more depressed than in modern times. Of course, they misinterpret Job!
Nevertheless, such fame comes with a cost in wicked and adulterous generations (Mk. 8:38). The temptation is strong for preachers to diminish the intensity of what is written, or even apologize for what is demanded,
