Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
By Jonathan Edwards
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon written by the noted Colonial American theologian Jonathan Edwards that is considered the catalyst to the First Great Awakening, a series of revivals that swept through Britain and the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. It was first preached to Edwards’ congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts and soon after on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. It is his most famous work and a fitting example of his preaching style, which combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the nature of the world and citations from scripture. The sermon asserts that Hell really exists and is the inevitable, horrific destination of those who go on living without calling on Christ for salvation. Humans must understand that God has given them a chance to confess their sins, to believe in and trust Christ, and that it is the mere will of God that keeps the wicked from falling into the depths of Hell. Edwards builds his argument slowly and methodically by moving through ten key “considerations”. He was often interrupted during the sermon by people emotionally crying out “What shall I do to be saved?”. “Sinners” is the most popular sermon ever given in America and has been widely studied by Christians and historians as a window into the theology of the revivals.
