Examples Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Edwards’ tone of the sermon is threatening. Edwards begins to compare how God handles sinners, he says, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire…” (431). Edwards uses imagery in this quote to strike fear into the minds of the sinners. It creates a fearful environment for the readers, as Edwards is trying to do for the congregation. Edwards states that God has the ultimate power. When he talks about how God can make any decision at any time Edward says, “‘There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God”’ (426). The quote demonstrates how no one is safe in the hands of God, he can make any decision he

Several times throughout his message, Edwards uses stories and images of the elements to bring his points to life. “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in Hell.” This excerpt from Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, references the element, fire. He uses this element to intensify the words he is speaking and create a terrifying image of what will happen to sinners who don’t repent.

​In Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards uses fear and intimidation to persuade his congregation to escape the wrath of God. In the sermon he uses metaphors to gain control over the congregation. Another reason why Jonathan Edwards uses metaphors is to prove his point to the congregation. Edwards also links the spiritual world to the physical world of the listeners. He uses metaphors to dramatize human powerlessness. He states that human has much chance of keeping out of hell.

Many preachers want to grasp the attention of their audience, maintain the attention, then to persuade them. In Jonathan Edward’s sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he utilizes many creative forms of narration that help achieve his goal of persuasion. He includes repetitional devices, he applies metaphors that can be easily interpreted and relies on descriptive imagery within his sermon to coax his audience onto his ideas. Edward resorts to these rhetorical devices in order to create a narrative that ingrains fear in his audience, Puritans who have lost their heavily religious values, to persuade his audience to align their religious views with his.

In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards displays controversial viewpoints and ideas concerning heaven and hell. As Edwards speaks to the congregation he warns them of the misery and suffering they will face if they do not repent of certain sins. He also describes God as angry which probably struck fear into the hearts on many. To illustrate his own point that hell is unenviable without repentance Jonathan Edwards creates the idea of an angry God using intense similes, a harsh tone, and strong emotional appeal in “Sinners in the hand of an Angry God”.

Through the use of imagery and classical appeal of pathos, Jonathan Edwards effectively injects fear into his congregation of their destined fate. "The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back" (Paragraph 11). The use of

Jonathan Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is moving and powerful. His effectiveness as an eighteenth century New England religious leader is rooted in his expansive knowledge of the Bible and human nature, as well as a genuine desire to "awaken" and save as many souls as possible. This sermon, delivered in 1741, exhibits Edwards's skillful use of these tools to persuade his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs.

Edwards use of repetition and diction to build up the concept that God is an angry one by mentioning, “Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth: yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation”. By choosing to repeat the word “yea” in the beginning of his statements, he is able to assure the audience that his perspective is right, which in turn influences them as his assertive tone establishes himself as a more credible character as he seems confident in his statements. Furthermore, the ambiguity when mentioning the sinners on earth, allows the audience to believe that they are not part of these statistics, in which he uses to make the people vulnerable as he references those in the sermon to be some of the many God is angry with. As a result of juxtaposing a much larger world to the people in the gathering, this enforces an idea that nobody is safe as even in their close proximity there are many who have earned God’s wrath. His use of repetition is also seen as he introduces “that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between

Edwards’s uses strong, powerful diction to clearly get his across to the spectators. Jonathan Edwards repetitively uses the word “omnipotent” to visibly tell his audience how powerful God is. Along with that, he repetitively uses the phrase “God’s wrath” along with words such as “fury, despair and destruction”. Edwards actually describes God’s wrath by commonly using words as dreadful, glowing, wickedness, black and vengeance. By the usage of these words and phrases, Edwards indicates that God is angered and furious of our actions. However to point out God’s generosity, Jonathan Edwards commonly uses the word “mercy”. By using the word “mercy”, Edwards indicates that since God made his worshipers, he is giving them an opportunity to repent and amend their ways or destruction is unpreventable. Mr. Edwards also uses words as “mourn, howl, hopeless and sober,” to specify the listeners reactions upon hearing Edwards’s sermon. Edwards use of influential words leave the spectators mourning and groaning in great despair. Edwards employs all these words through the emotional appeal of ethos. This is what causes a great impact upon the listeners at the church.

Furthermore, Jonathan Edward says, "...hell is gasping for them..." Giving his audience a visual picture of hell gasping its "mouth" open to those who anger the god. God becomes the hand that holds the people from the fiery pit of hell, of someone where anger the god, he would remove his hand for the persin to fall into hell. Edward gives this visualization to scare them before the people start to sin and get sentence to hell.

Jonathan in his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (July 8, 1741), claims that the unconverted are hanging from the hands of God, and can be dropped off to the eternity of hell, his sermon is used to make the sinners be afraid and understand how the power of God is saving them, but it is only for his pleasure, unless if they return to Christianity. Edwards strengths his argument by using metaphors and imagery of a wrathful God to make the unconverted people afraid of being sinners and encourage them to have a relationship with Christ to be fully saved from falling to an eternity in the flames of hell. Edwards purpose is to start his sermon with such powerful use of visualization to provide fear to the sinners and give them a

Throughout Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, he strategically utilizes an immense variety of different rhetorical and literary devices to not only bring his sermon to life, but also increase the persuasiveness of his message. For instance, in the fifth paragraph, he creates a simile illustrating that,“the wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given” (Edwards 2). The simile along with his use of descriptive language intensifies his message as well as emphasizes God’s omnipotence. By emphasizing the omnipotence of God, he instills fear within the audience hoping that they realize the importance of having a connection

In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards uses a wide variety of figurative language to instill fear in his congregation. He does this in order to discourage the Enlightenment, a time when society began to stray from the church in favor of human intellect, while simultaneously promoting the Great Awakening, giving the people reason to trust in God instead of the people. The first piece of figurative language Edwards uses is repetition. In the beginning of his sermon and throughout the middle, he refers to “God’s hand” multiple times.

Throughout the sermon, Edward conveys a variety of literary devices . One example of imagery is "The flames gather and flash about them..." He is describing the flames of hell and how they surround the sinner. Personification allows the listeners to understand how the devil makes them sin. An example is "Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight pressure towards hell." He describes the wickedness of people as something that makes it sin. Edward uses repetition to add the emphasis

Edward’s introduces his theme by using imagery. For example, “There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God.” (21-22). This shows the reader that hell will be a terrible place, but you don’t have to worry about being sent to hell if you accept and follow God.