We plan to publish twelve articles with an explicit focus on what we call Christian hedonism. It’s the first one.
For us at Desiring God, it’s like saying, “Let’s celebrate existence. “Desire God? (Wishing God) for the 1987 book with this title. The subtitle of the book is fundamental: Meditations of a hedonistic Christian. That’s who we are: hedonistic Christians. This site exists as an overflow of biblical meditations by hedonistic Christians.
My goal here is to clarify what we mean by this phrase “Christian hedonism”.
Now I know the expression? Like the words Trindade, discipular, evangelization, exhibition, counsel, ethics, politics, charismatic and many others are not in the Bible. The Bible does not include a book number sixty-seven entitled “General Synthesis”. There is also a lack of a glossary of concepts.
God was glad to inspire a volume with dozens of beautiful sons of truth intertwined in the sixty-six books. Not all of these threads have a name. He left us a lot of glorious work. Great are the works of the Lord, considered by all who enjoy it (Salt 111,2). As we study and weave the beautiful children, and as we observe Mestre Weaver, we discover precious realities and give them names so that we can talk about them as they cluster into observable patterns. One such model is Christian hedonism.
Our favorite phrase to explain the essence of Christian hedonism is this: God is the most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with Him. We believe that this truth is rooted in the eternal Trinitarian relations of divinity. We believe this is in The Heart of Why God Created the World. And we believe that its implications for life, now and always, are considerable. Does this truth affect all aspects of human life?drink orange juice to eat pizza (1Co 10. 31), welcome others (Rom 15,7), exhale our last breath (Fil 1. 20), it is not peripheral. It’s never, it’s not in vain.
You can be sure we’re serious. For us, Christian hedonism is not just a nickname or a slogan; it is at the heart of God’s redemptive work and our Christian life. It is central and complete, because the glory of God is central and global.
Or, to change the spatial metaphor, since God’s glorification is the ultimate purpose (not just the center) of creation, Christian hedonism is of the utmost importance, because God will not be glorified as he should be, if his people are not satisfied. as they should be.
A people of God whose hearts are not exceedingly satisfied with God’s greatness, beauty, and courage will be a faulty people and a shame for God. So the ultimate goal of the universe?depends on God’s triumph over our sinful preferences for what is not God.
This is what happens through the cross, the resurrection, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the progress of sanctification, and the final perfection of all things by Christ: God will have a perfect wife and bought with blood for his Son, not a defective wife. . And he will be fully glorified, not dishonored. Therefore, your satisfaction in the Son of God will be essential to the beauty of the wife; without her, she would embarrass him.
One way to check if you’re a Christian hedonist is to ask yourself what the expression and meaning of the answer to the first question of the Westminster catechism is.
Question 1: What is the supreme and main purpose of man?
Answer: The supreme and main purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
You may find the question strange: what does the second one mean?But maybe it’s not that strange when you stop realizing that these two endings (glorify and enjoy) are called the?The end? In the question: “What is the supreme and main purpose?of the man. ” It does not say, “What are the supreme and principal purposes of man?”Therefore, the singular use of?Fin? It’s like a flag waving in front of us that says, “Stop. Think, how do these two things relate in such a way that they are one?
Christian hedonism is not the first to answer that the “E” means “in” or by “”Man’s main goal is to glorify God, enjoying him forever. “In 1908, in the Princeton Theological Review, Benjamin Warfield wrote that Westminster catechism may have received its second half of the first response (?And enjoy it forever?) of William Ames Catechism, what did he really write?(Works by Warfield, 6, Baker, 2003, 396).
Warfield himself interprets virtually the double answer to the first question in a hedonistic Christian way:
No man is truly reformed [would say biblical] in his thinking, unless he sees man not only as an instrument of divine glory, but also as intended to reflect The glory of God in his own conscience, to rejoice in God: no, unless he rejoices in God as the Allglorious (397).
To paraphrase: it is insufficient to speak of man as destined to glorify God, without also specifying that the way in which man is destined to glorify God is because of the inner state of his conscience; and this state of inner consciousness, which glorifies God, is his conscious experience of “rejoicing in God. “What it means to rejoice in God like all Glorious. This means that man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. O: God is glorified in man to be, man, satisfied in God.
Warfield says it even more clearly in the final sentences of his essay:
“Man’s main goal is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. “Certainly, one cannot enjoy God without glorifying Him, because how is it possible that the one to whom glory intrinsically belongs can be appreciated without being glorified?But surely it is not possible to glorify God without appreciating Him?for how can he whose glory is his perfection be glorified, if not appreciated?(400).
Yes, indeed! Ask the last rhetorical question: How can you . . . be glorified if you don’t appreciate it too? Answer: Can’t ?, at least not correctly. So turn this rhetorical question into an affirmation: God cannot be glorified as He should be. , unless properly appreciated.
John Brown of Haddington, a Scottish minister who died in 1787, developed the Westminster catechism as well:
Christian hedonism paraphrases this last question and answer: God is highly glorified in us when we fully enjoy him.
Thomas Vincent, a Puritan, an English minister who died in 1678, asked the same question:
Why do God’s glorification and God’s enjoyment unern as one of man’s main ends?A. Because God has united them inseparably, so that men cannot imagine and seek one without the other. Those who appreciate God most in their homes in the world glorify and appreciate Him more. And when God is fully appreciated by the saints of heaven, He will be exceedingly glorified. (Brown and Vincent’s quotes were compiled by Virginia Huguenot).
So one of the most essential claims of Christian hedonism, namely, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him?” This is not new. It has its roots in many historical catechisms, especially in the famous Westminster question: “What is the supreme and main end of man?” With the answer: “The supreme and main end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. ” Christian hedonism joins a long group of pastors and theologians who have recognized that this double response has a deep unity, because the glorification of God in the human heart cannot be done completely, where God is not fully appreciated as the treasure. supreme of the heart.
Of course, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if human catechisms affirmed Christian hedonism, what matters in the end is: Did God create the world in this way and reveal this truth to us in his foolproof word, the Bible??
I want God to have been working for twenty-five years to show in the scriptures that the answer to this question is yes. We care a thousand times more about what God thinks than what others say. We encourage you to do the same. If you believe that Christian hedonism is not taught in the Bible, we do not want you to believe it because we teach, we expect you to stay with us during the month of October and try everything while we approach Christian hedonism from different angles.
I will conclude this article with a biblical text that teaches that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with Him. And then I’ll mention the broader practical participation.
In Philippians 1:20, Paul says that the passion of his life is to glorify Christ. He expresses it this way: “according to my burning longing and hope”, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether for life or death. Then, in the following sentences, he explains how he will glorify Christ in death and in life; in both explanations, shows that he thinks like a hedonistic Christian.
As for death, he says that the reason Christ will be glorified in his death is because he will experience death as a gain (verse 21). And the reason he will experience death is a gain, it is because it means “to be with Christ, who is incomparably better” (v. 23). What I do, as a serious reader of the Bible, is stop at this point and ask, “Why does Christ’s experience as a gain at the time of death glorify Christ?”What would you say?
Does that explain? Benefit? With the words “incomparably better”. In other words, dying and being with Christ is much better than anything this world has to offer (since it is about to die). He will say exactly this later in this letter: “Yes, I consider it all a loss, by the sublimity of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord (Fp 3. 8).
Paul says that his assessment and experience of Christ’s worth is so great that he is happier to be with Christ than anything else in the world. That is why Christ is glorified in the experience of Paul’s death. You make someone beautiful and glorious when you are so satisfied with him and his presence that losing everything in the world to be with him feels like a gain.
So my paraphrase of Paul’s thinking here is that Christ is the most magnified in Paul when Paul is so satisfied with Christ that he enjoys Christ more than anyone else has to offer, even if it costs him his life. It’s Christian hedonism. And that’s exactly what Paul taught and lived.
What if Paul lives? He also answers this question as a Christian hedonist.
Remember he said, “According to my fiery longing and my hope?”Will Christ be magnified (glorified, honest) in my body, either for life or for death?In fact, even if he prefers to die, if his benefit is the only one to consider, he knows he will live, God has work to do for him. So how does Paul show us that by staying alive, he will glorify Christ?
He believes that staying in the flesh is more necessary. “But, for you, it is more necessary to remain in the flesh. And, convinced of this, I am sure that I will stay and remain with all of you, because your progress and your enjoyment of faith may resurface for me the reason for boasting in Jesus Christ, with my presence, with you (cf. Fp 1. 24-26).
Follow his thought: (1) I will stay alive and stay with you. (2) The purpose and effect of my stay with you will be your progress and your enjoyment of faith. (3) The effect of this joy will be “bragging about Christ Jesus. “Do you see the goal to which your life and ministry are headed?And how do you achieve the goal?
Is it the goal?Brag? (Greek kauch? Ma), in Christ. The word? Can it be translated by?Joy? Or? Praise?Or ‘manifestation well’. This is the purpose of Christ’s glorification (as in verse 20). And how does Paul want them to achieve the goal? Help them live the “joy of faith. “He could have said faith, but he said “enjoy the faith. “Why? Because the pride, joy, and glorification of Christ occur in and through joy in Christ is Christian hedonism. The primary purpose of the Philippians is to glorify God (in his Son) by preciating Him forever. Christ is the most glorified among Philippians when they are most satisfied with him.
We are Christian hedonists because that is what the Bible teaches
I said that I would end up giving you the most complete and practical implication of Christian hedonism, it is this: as God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him, it is your duty given by God and demanded by the Bible. , at any time in your life, to strive to be more satisfied in God as your supreme treasure that would fit you something else in the universe
The Bible resonates with this practical and global participation of Christian hedonism. I leave you with one statement from Jesus in which you can reflect.
He who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; He who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; (Mt 10. 37)
Ask yourself what kind of love good parents have for their children and what about good children with their parents. Isn’t that a dear love, a precious love?Jesus says that He must be more loved, dearer, and more esteemed than our most beloved earthly pleasures.
In this case, the quest to become that kind of person is our duty, in fact, our greatest duty (Mt 22:36-37).