Just over a year ago I referenced a sermon in an Afterthoughts article that I would like to revisit again. It is written by Timothy Dwight who, as you may recall, was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards and whose father fought in the Revolutionary War. You can immediately tell Dwight is a descendent of Jonathan Edwards, not only because of his similar theology and passion for the glory of God, but because his sermon titles resemble library filing categories.

On Sunday we looked at the practical side of abiding. Jesus taught us that abiding in Him is seen directly in obeying His commands (Jn 15:10). The command of greatest importance, according to Jesus, is to love one another (Jn 15:12). In reflecting on this command, I once again pulled my yellowing, 1836 copy of Dwight’s theology and thumbed to the now-familiar pair of sermons.

They were not hard to find. The first was titled, Regeneration. –Its Attendants. –Love. Yes, that is the actual title. Dwight was considering the impact of regeneration (new life in Christ) on the way a Christian is to think and act. Over the course of many weeks of preaching, he unpacked all of the different virtues that Scripture teaches to accompany, or attend, God’s work of regeneration in us. When he came to the topic of Love, Dwight suggested that the most helpful practical word for us to understand how love works is benevolence. As the American dictionary of note at the time of this book’s publication states, benevolence is “The disposition to do good; good will; kindness; charitableness; the love, of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness.”1

This tendency towards doing good for the purpose of promoting the happiness (or blessedness, to use a biblical category) of others, should be a defining characteristic of the Christian life. How then should we live this out?

Dwight wisely notes, as Christ Himself taught us, that benevolence is a virtue that operates best when radiating from the center outward. We love best, when we love those closest most. Thus, in his second sermon on this topic, helpfully entitled Regeneration. –Its Attendants. Consistency of Benevolence with Providing Peculiarly for Our Own., Dwight writes the following:

Man owes more to the poor in his neighborhood; to his neighbors generally; to the town, and the country, in which he lives; than to others. The reason is obvious. It is in his power to do them more good; and God has placed him where he is, that he may do this very good. For the same reason he owes more to his own family; because he can do more good to the members of it, than to any other equal collection of mankind.

As, therefore, it is the indispensable duty of all men to do the most good in their power; and as this is the direct dictate, the genuine tendency, of Benevolence; so it is certain that the division of mankind into families furnishes the fairest, and the only fair, foundation for accomplishing this purpose in a successful manner. On any other supposable plan, instead of increasing the efficacy of benevolence, or multiplying the enjoyments of mankind, we should, in a great measure, cramp the former, and destroy the latter.2

It is hard to imagine a more timely admonition than this. There is no means for the betterment of man’s condition individually, or across a culture, than strong families practicing strong benevolence from the center out. It is not a hatred for the outside world that leads Jesus to command us to love one another, rather than love everyone equally. It is profound wisdom. We must love the members of our own households, and we must love the members of God’s family with which we gather to worship, first. Only then can there be a deep well of true Christian love from which to bless those outside our families. Without the benevolence of Christian families keeping love hot and dynamic, our love is soon dissipated when spread across the masses of humanity. Worse still, if mediated through some other organ, such as the state, our love is no longer the expression of personal benevolence, but the mere programmatic administration of resources.

In the heated battle of our day, to enjoy loving families, we must fight for the meaning and reality of both terms. If we tolerate their erasure, we shall find that whatever is propped up to replace love and family will certainly, as Dwight warned, cramp the efficacy of benevolence, and destroy the enjoyments of mankind.

For the good of our families, for the good of our church, and for the good of this world, let us

love one another.

1  Webster, Noah. American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
2 Dwight, Timothy. Theology, Explained and Defended, in a Series of Sermons, vol. 2., 1836. p. 483.