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Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God By Jonathan Edwards

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The Puritans were a religious group of people who helped in the colonization of America in the early 17th century. The Puritan’s beliefs consisted of things that made them fear their God. They believed in total depravity, the idea that everyone is born a sinner, and should be cast from God. They also believed that God chooses who He want’s to save, that Jesus Christ died only for God’s elect, and in the idea of predestination. By the 1700s, many of the church leaders and preachers believed that their society had fallen away from their original beliefs and had become self-satisfied and materialistic. Jonathan Edwards was a preacher who gave a sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to his congregation, trying to persuade them that …show more content…

In most of the sermon, but specifically in the fourth paragraph, Edwards talks about how wicked the people are, and how the only thing that is keeping them from being cast into hell at that very moment is the grace and mercy of God. The imagery used is to help his congregation vividly imagine the metaphor and meaning he is trying to get across. In the beginning of the paragraph Edwards says that “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead… and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf [of hell].” (Paragraph 4) The words “Swiftly,” “Plunge,” and “Bottomless” (4) create an astounding image of how powerful God is and how quickly and harshly He could send them to hell. The use of imagery to convey meaning can have a profound impact on those that are …show more content…

He used repetition in words, phrases, and the overall idea that “There is nothing between [them] and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds [them] up.” (2) Edwards reminds his congregation of this more than 15 times throughout the sermon. Repetition is applicable to anything in life. We use repetition to learn, study, and so much more in our day to day lives. In this circumstance, Edward’s used repetition to engrave the idea that they’re going to hell, and the only thing that is keeping them from being there now is God’s

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688 Words | 3 Pages

He plys many different rhetorical strategies to convince his listeners to follow his word. He uses strategies including, repetition, appeal to fear, appeal to urgency and problem solution. Johnathan Edwards uses many rhetorical strategies in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". He uses repetition throughout the sermon. The main idea that he repeats is that if you do not love and believe in God, then you are going to hell.

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303 Words | 2 Pages

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry GOD Analysis “Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering.” Edward’s sermons were preached during the period of the Great Awakening, a time of religious revival. Edwards was a powerful preacher of his time, he wanted to change and persuade the mind of his audience. Jonathan Edward’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry GOD” considered his listeners as sinners of their religion through the use of Diction, Figurative Language and Rhetorical Devices, making it one of history’s great works.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

He gave this sermon to a congregation of people during the time of the Great Awakening, a period of religious revival. Edwards point in presenting this sermon was the try and persuade the people that were sinners to repent. Jonathan Edwards used vivid and threatening imagery and metaphors in order to deliberately stimulate religious change in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Jonathan Edwards used this great imagery and metaphors in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in order to try to lead the members of the congregation to become more interested in the church and fear God.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

The most important feature of a sermon is the application of a scripture text to the personal experience of the listener. Especially this last part is what reduced many of Edwards’s listeners to tears. In Edwards’s sermon the scripture text is “Their foot shall slide in due time”. This meant that eventually, all sinners would be punished by God, which could be at any time. Edwards speaks of a wrathfull God, a God who by Puritan standards is considered forgiving for not letting all of humanity fall into the deepest pits of hell.

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424 Words | 2 Pages

The amount of imagery, personification, and similes’ makes his sermons energetic and impactful. Edwards compares the power of God over his followers to the power of a person over a spider: “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over a fire… he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast in the fire.” -Edwards (pg. 103) Edwards states that God's followers are not worthy of anything. In order to earn God’s trust and help, a person cannot fall away from a church or God will look at them like a spider, or a worthless item.

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643 Words | 3 Pages

Even though they have broke away from God, He still loves them and keeps their heads from touching the fire in Hell (Lines 2-6). Edwards proves this point when he says, “You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn Rebel and his Prince: and yet ‘tis nothing but his Hand that holds you from falling into the Fire every moment” (Lines 4-5). Overall, Edwards focuses on the fact that God takes pity on His people, but He also has the power to determine where one’s faith lies. In the end, Edwards was addressing the sinners across the colonies and advising them to turn to God for guidance rather than the British

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397 Words | 2 Pages

Jonathan Edwards used imagery as well as pathos in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to achieve his purpose of persuading his congregation. In showing the way for his congregation Edwards first, has to use the pathos of fear to get his congregation to listen and care. Alongside with repetitive powerful imagery of hell and fire invoking a reaction among his congregation and turning them away from hell. However, none of that would matter if Edwards does not end with the uplifting image of love and hope showing what could be and that there is a path to “fly from the wrath to come.”

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1763 Words | 8 Pages

In “sinners in the hands of an angry God”, Jonathan Edwards uses different types of literary techniques, such as, imagery, metaphor, similes, repetition, and rhetorical questions to emphasize his point. His point is to scare the people and make them want to repent, which is the theme of the sermon. In the sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry god,” Edwards uses different types of

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1104 Words | 5 Pages

At one point in the sermon, he expresses this by saying that, “The only reason why sinners are not fallen already, and do not fall now, is only that God’s appointed time has not yet come. For when time comes,…then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight” (499). The said weight in this quote is not just for the presently committed sins, but the weight of the intrinsic dissoluteness, which all human beings are carrying. After stating this, Edwards poses a threat palpably by directing it to the people when he says, “God is a great deal angry with great numbers that are now on earth; yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation”

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726 Words | 3 Pages

It is explained that God is the only one who is able to save people from going to Hell. Edwards wants people to imagine how evil and distressed life would be without Gods love and mercy. He explains that to not burn in Hell people need to ask for forgiveness from God, experience Gods mercy, and continuously practice the Lords word. Edwards really lets the message of “Gods wrath” sink into our minds to show how mighty, powerful, and capable the Lord is. The Lord gives us many opportunities to rely on Him and when we need his love and mercy the most.

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758 Words | 4 Pages

Repetition is the repeating of a word or group of words for effect. Edwards shows the use of repetition when he proclaimed, “...the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies” (Edwards 1). What Edwards was saying over and over again here was that all the things that God has made are not meant to be used to commit sin. Edwards was successful in making sure a topic sticks to the mind of a person when using this

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1253 Words | 6 Pages

Edwards wanted his audience to mentally understand his attitude towards God, and for them to not underestimate God’s Powers. He painted a mental picture of an enraged and angry God when Edwards preached that “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm… and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you” (Paragraph 3). The black clouds and the description of the storm demonstrated God’s anger building up inside him waiting to unleash. God’s merciful act was the only reason he did not release his true wrath. There was no say when God will become completely fed up with his “sinner.”

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817 Words | 4 Pages

“The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned from the present; they increase; more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is give; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty its course, when once it is let loose." In this quotation, Edwards uses

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928 Words | 4 Pages

The majority of this sermon is dedicated to the audience whom Edwards views with repulsion. He uses imagery to describe the awful Hell that he believes the people in the congregation will end up in and calls it a “great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath” (Paragraph 8). He illustrates the never ending state of Hell in order to frighten everyone in the audience. He sees each and every person as damned and honestly believes they deserve be sent to Hell to burn for all eternity. He feels no sympathy for them because they are completely free to do what they want and he knows that what they do with their free will is commit sin.

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861 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Edwards in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” focus on how God punish the ones that doesn’t follow him. He talks mostly about the rage of God and how he is going to manifest when people go to hell. The poem is based on how God punish the sinners. What I infer that is Edwards’s purpose is that he wants us to change our acts and believes because there is an opportunitty of being saves from hell. We are at the edge of a line, and we can only be rescued by God.

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