For my write-up today on George Marsden's Jonathan Edwards: A Life, I'll use as my starting point something that Marsden says on page 109:
"In
one notable entry, [Jonathan Edwards] again placed his longing for
Sarah in its larger spiritual context: 'Happiness. How soon do earthly
lovers come to an end of their discoveries of each other's beauty; how
soon do they see all that is to be seen!...How soon do they come to the
most endearing expressions of love that 'tis possible to give, so that
no new ways can be invented[,] given or received.' Once again, he
contrasted the easily reached limits of human love with the infinitely
progressing heavenly love between Christ and the saints: 'And how happy
is that love, in which there is an eternal progress in all these things;
wherein new beauties are continually discovered, and more and more
loveliness, and in which we shall forever increase in beauty ourselves;
where we shall be made capable of finding out and giving, and shall
receive, more and more endearing expressions of love forever: our union
will become more close, and communion more intimate.'"
For
Edwards, heaven will not be a boring place, for we will grow in our
love for Christ, as we gain more and more insight into Christ's
character and become increasingly beautiful ourselves.
This brings several things to my mind.
First,
this somewhat contradicts something that I heard about Jonathan Edwards
in a class that I took years ago. We were discussing Edwards' sermon, Heaven, A World of Love,
and my professor (if I recall correctly) thought that Edwards was
presenting heaven as a static place, whereas he preferred to conceive of
heaven as a place where people grow and mature in love. But the
passage from Edwards that Marsden highlights appears to present heaven
as a dynamic place.
Second, a problem that I have long had with I Corinthians 13
is its claim that knowledge will pass away----since there will come a
time when we will no longer look through a glass darkly but will know
God as God knows us----and yet love will remain forever. I appreciate
the point that the chapter is trying to make----that we should not feel
superior on account of our knowledge or use our knowledge as a way to
put people down, but we should be humble, meek, and loving. But
I would never like to get to the point where I am no longer growing in
knowledge. That's what makes life exciting: learning new things. And, as one gets older in this life, one realizes that there is only so much that one can learn in a limited lifespan. But,
according to Edwards, heaven is a place where we will continually learn
about Christ. And that growth in knowledge is not contrary to love,
but actually encourages it.
Third, in my younger years,
one problem that I had with the Bible and Christianity is that I became
bored with them. I thought that I already knew all of the doctrines
that there are to know, and I wanted to hear something new. In my later
years (if you want to count my 30's as "later"), I realize that there
is much that I don't know. There are so many different doctrines out
there, and so many interpretations of the Bible, that I can spend a
lifetime learning about them, and even one lifetime will not be enough
time! The thing is, what I learn about the Bible from the
historical-critical method is not always inspiring or edifying, but I
don't want to continually fall back on old cliches, such as "God is
love". But suppose I were to learn that God is love, and see
that there are endless things to uncover even from that? Suppose that I
can be edified, and learn more and more.
Fourth,
I thought about the limitations that are on earth. I don't entirely
agree with Edwards that we can soon see everything that there is to see
in our lover, for there may be new things to learn when it comes to
other people, even after a long period of time. At the same time, there
are times when people get bored with their spouse or significant other,
which is why they may look elsewhere, or the spouse or significant
other may try something new to spice up the relationship. One thing
that Edwards does not mention in the passage that Marsden quotes is that
familiarity can breed contempt: that seeing things I don't like in
another person can set limits on my love. And then there are hang-ups
that we have that inhibit the full expression of our love, as I talk
about here.
But suppose we were in a place where such limitations did not
exist----where we could grow in love and express more fully the love
that we have.