“Biblical faith is not stoic; true Christianity is dyed with all the colors of human emotion. But you cannot reduce the gospel to dynamic emotional experiences with God. As the Holy Spirit indwells us and the Word of God impacts us, most of the changes in our hearts and lives take place in the little moments of life.”
(How People Change, Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp, 9)

I love Jonathan Edwards. More than anyone I have studied, Edwards strikes a beautiful balance between, on the one hand, analyzing the reality and importance of encounters with God and corresponding affections, and on the other hand, not allowing perceived God-encounters to go untested by Scripture, which must always test and judge our experiences.

In his famous work flowing out of the Great Awakening, Religious Affections, Edwards gives us two lists. The first is a list of signs, events, experiences, or religious phenomena that neither prove one way or another that an ‘encounter’ is truly a work of the Holy Spirit. They are ‘signs of nothing.’ The second list, according to Edwards, consists of biblical truths which validate an encounter with God and his grace as genuine. They are ‘signs of authentic affections.’ I hope that by providing these lists here, you are inspired to read America’s most famous theologian. (The first list is taken from Sam Storms’ excellent rendering and interpretation of Edwards - Signs of the Spirit. The second list is my own wording mixed with Storms.)

Signs of Nothing
(1) Nothing is known for sure from the fact that affections are intense or are raised high in the heart of a person.
(2) Nothing is known for sure when the affections of the heart have a great influence on the body.
(3) The fact that people are inclined to talk at length about their spiritual experience proves nothing.
(4) The way in which people come to have their affections awakened proves nothing about whether those affections are of God or of the flesh.
(5) When people experience religious affections because a Scripture text suddenly came to mind, it proves nothing.
(6) The mere fact that certain religious affections are characterized by love is no proof that the Holy Spirit is their author.
(7) Often people experience a wide variety of religious affections that seem naturally to accompany one another. But this proves nothing as to the spiritual origin of them.
(8) The order of sequence in which one experiences religious affections proves nothing certain about their origin or nature.
(9) One might think that fervency in the normal affairs of worship and religious duty would be a sure sign of gracious affections. But this is not the case.
(10) Not even the vocal praise of God is a sure and certain sign of gracious affections.
(11) Merely having a deep and profound assurance that one is saved [or had a sincere encounter with God] proves nothing about the authenticity of one’s faith.
(12) That true Christians are impressed by the external behavior and attracted to the lifestyle of another person proves nothing concerning the nature of the latter’s religious affections.

Signs of Authentic Affections
(1) Affections that are truly spiritual and gracious arise from supernatural and divine operations on the heart.
(2) Gracious affections lead to an attraction to God, his Word, and his ways for their own sake, and not because of any self-interest.
(3) True affections spring from seeing the beauty of holiness, which characterizes God and his ways.
(4) True affections arise from the mind’s being spiritually and sovereignly enlightened to understand divine things.
(5) Affections that are truly from God come with a deep-seated conviction of the truth of the glory of the Gospel.
(6) A true encounter with the living God produces humility.
(7) Gracious affections produce an actual change in the very nature of the soul.
(8) A true encounter with God produces and promotes the same love, humility, forgiveness, and mercy we see in Jesus Christ.
(9) Authentic affections soften the heart and produce a tenderness of spirit and sensitivity toward sin.
(10) Gracious affections have a beautiful symmetry and proportion and balance.
(11) When a genuine encounter and genuine affections are experienced in high degree, they only serve to intensify one’s longing for more. Conversely, false affections rest satisfied in themselves.
(12) A true encounter with God always bears the fruit of holiness in a person’s life.

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