Jonathan Edwards’ Early Life
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many consider Jonathan Edwards the greatest theologian that America has ever produced. Today, Stephen Nichols illuminates the details of Edwards’ life—good and bad—so we might better understand how God shaped him for His service.
Get Stephen Nichols’ teaching series about Jonathan Edwards on DVD for your donation of any amount. We’ll include lifetime digital access to all six messages and the study guide: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/4255/offer
Live outside the U.S. and Canada? Request digital access to the Jonathan Edwards teaching series and study guide with your donation: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global
Meet Today’s Teacher:
Stephen Nichols is president of Reformation Bible College, chief academic officer for Ligonier Ministries, and a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Weeds grow really well on my garden. You can have remarkable growth by doing absolutely nothing |
| 0:06.0 | in your garden. But it's not necessarily the growth you want. It's not intentional growth. |
| 0:10.8 | To have intentional growth, it takes some pruning, it takes some care, and it takes some work. |
| 0:17.9 | And you begin to see this in Edwards. You begin to see some of these characteristics |
| 0:22.9 | develop early on in Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was an American revivalist preacher, theologian, |
| 0:36.5 | and pastor of the Northampton Congregational Church |
| 0:39.3 | in Massachusetts. You might know him for his famous sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry |
| 0:45.4 | God. This is the Monday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. Over the next two |
| 0:52.9 | days, you'll get a glimpse of the man and the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. |
| 0:58.1 | Our featured teacher is a Ligeneer Teaching Fellow, Stephen Nichols, |
| 1:01.9 | and his series on Jonathan Edwards is actually six messages. |
| 1:06.1 | You can own it, along with the study guide, |
| 1:08.3 | when you give a donation before midnight tomorrow at renewingyourmind.org |
| 1:13.1 | or when you call us at 800-435-4343. |
| 1:17.8 | He's a significant figure in church history, so take the time to learn more about Edwards. |
| 1:24.2 | Well, to start us off, here's Dr. Nichols on Edwards' early life. |
| 1:31.1 | When his daughter visited, the thing that she remembered the most was the blowing of a conch shell. |
| 1:40.2 | Esther Edwards Burr, who was the daughter of Jonathan Edwards and the wife of Aaron Burr and the mother of |
| 1:50.6 | Aaron Burr Jr., who would go on to be America's third vice president, was visiting her parents |
| 1:57.4 | in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Growing up in a pastor's home, she was used to a busy |
| 2:05.3 | Sabbath morning. Having 10 siblings, 11 children in that family, she was used to a very busy house |
| 2:14.9 | on Sunday mornings. But in the 1750s, her parents had moved away from |
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