'There is a difference between affection and
emotion. If one espouses a traditional head/heart dualism then, what follows
will not be understood.
The 'self' is to be understood as unitary,
particularly when it comes to the understanding of affection. Affection always
includes understanding and will. Understanding, will and, affect form a unit.
What we love ultimately governs how we think and
what we do, in the long run. In the short run you can always will against what
you want to do and, love. Example of someone in school:Should you study
tonight (you have a test tomorrow) or, should you watch the baseball game? In
the short run you can always will against desire and, force yourself to study.
But, in the long run we all end up doing what we are fond of or, what we love.
(crave).
In addition to what we love governing what we do,
it also governs how we think. 90% of what we call reasoning (ratiocination) is
rationalization.(doctrine of total depravity outlines the extent to which the
structure of reason survives the 'fall' but, the integrity of reason on
theological matters is forfeited in the fall.(The fallen sinner is as rational
as ever but, now her reason serves, unconsciously, the legitimization of her
sin. Conscious reasoning is served by
unconscious rationalization.What we call reasoning is highly socially
determined.
How people think isn't simply the pure distillate
of pure rational thinking Rather, how people think reflects their social
formation. (If one polled TT in order to ascertain what some deem
'common sense' we'd discover it to be neither 'sensible' nor 'common'.
What passes for common sense in any one society
overwhelmingly is the mental pattern, the thought pattern of people who have
access to social power.
What we love will govern ultimately how we behave
but, also how we think. The 'great commandment of Scripture' is 'You shall
love the Lord your God'. We tend not to be as quick to identify the 'root'
commandment in Scripture which is 'You shall be holy as I the Lord your God am
Holy'.(Lev 19:2)
Any commandment in Scripture is a covered
promise. 'You shall' means that
1. You had better
2. By God's grace He will see to it that you do.
Therefore the 'root' commandment and the 'great'
commandment are both the root promise and the great promise namely, we are to
be holy and we are to love the Lord our God with....The root commandment
occurs in the Holiness Code (Lev 17-22)
The HC may strike us as particularly mundane. The
HC describes how God's people are to live. You don't bribe judges, you don't
put your thumb on the scale when you're selling meat to the homemaker, you
don't move boundary markers. Holiness is what you do, not how you feel.
BUT, what you do, finally, is controlled by what or whom you
love.
Affection and emotion are to be distinguished
from one another. Affection is a felt response for an object called for by or,
grounded in an understanding of the nature of that object. Where there is no understanding there can be no affection
regardless of how much emotion is present.Where there is no understanding of
the nature of God there can be no affection for God.
The above is an extract from a talk given by Dr.
Victor Shepherd entitled 'Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections: An Aid to
Spiritual Discernment' at Tyndale University College & Seminary in June of
2005
Victor is a close
acquaintance.
