Charity and Its Fruits: Living in the Light of God's Love

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was a pastor, theologian, and missionary. He is generally considered the greatest American theologian. A prolific writer, Edwards is known for his many sermons, including "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and his classic A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. Edwards was appointed president of the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) shortly before his death. 

Kyle Strobel (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is assistant professor of spiritual theology at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He has served as a fellow at Yale’s Jonathan Edwards Center, has published several academic reviews of works related to Edwards, and has taught graduate courses on Edwards’s spirituality theology. Kyle lives in Fullerton, California, with his wife, Kelli, and their two children.

I am thrilled that Kyle Strobel has edited this new edition of Edwards’s Charity and Its Fruits. This series of sermons holds a special place in my affections for Edwards for three reasons. First, in Munich, Germany, my wife and I read it aloud to each other in 1972. What a way to build a young marriage! Second, Edwards’s treatment of ‘Charity seeketh not her own’ profoundly shaped my emerging Christian Hedonism. Third, the last chapter, ‘Heaven Is a World of Love,’ is simply unsurpassed in its power to make me want to go there. I am unabashed in my love for Jonathan Edwards—and the grandeur of his God. May God give him an ever-wider voice.
-John Piper,
Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Twin Cities, Minnesota

This new edition of Charity and Its Fruits is a most welcomed addition to the growing library of books by and about the great Jonathan Edwards. For those who mistakenly think that Protestant theologians overemphasize faith at the expense of love, these classic sermons by Edwards will be an antidote to a stereotype. But even more important, this deep mining of 1 Corinthians 13 is a pathway into spiritual theology that will draw every believer closer to Christ.
-Timothy George,
Founding Dean, Beeson Divinity School; General Editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

For Jonathan Edwards, the true Puritan understanding of Christianity as love-life in God through Christ was a lifelong theological-pastoral-devotional focus, and his fullest display of it is found here. Kyle Strobel’s comments help us appreciate this classic on communion with God.
-J. I. Packer,
Board of Governors' Professor of Theology, Regent College; author, Knowing God

As best I can tell, this is a first in Edwardsean studies. No one has done with Charity and Its Fruits what Kyle Strobel accomplishes here—providing us with an enlightening commentary and a readable text of one of Edwards’s most important, though highly neglected, treatises. All who love Edwards (and everyone should) will profit immensely from this exceptional volume.
-Sam Storms,
Senior Pastor, Bridgeway Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; author, The Hope of Glory

Jonathan Edwards is America’s most famous theologian, and he is experiencing a resurrection among some evangelicals today. Not all who clap for Edwards have read him extensively, and for some the applause appears to be little more than groupthink. But this annotation of Edwards’s seminal exposition of 1 Corinthians 13, edited by a competent young Edwards specialist who offers an informed introduction to Edwards’s moral thought, holds promise for all of us to become more dedicated to the theological vision for the glory of God at work in the theology of Edwards. All who read Edwards aright know they are in for an experience of sensate knowledge, and not simply academic intelligence. Read this book into worship.
-Scot McKnight,
Karl A. Olsson Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, North Park University