John Owen Concepts

John Owen 1616-1683

On Temptation and Sin: • Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, 1656 • Of Temptation, 1658 • The Glory of Christ, 1684/1696 • Of The Dominion of Sin and Grace, 1688 • The Works of John Owen. 24 vols.

Introduction 1. Puritan, English Nonconformist, Congregationalist pastor, theologian and administrator at Oxford. He’s considered by many to be the greatest English speaking theologian. A prolific writer. One of his greatest works is “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ,”* 1647, a defense of Calvinism’s particular redemption (limited atonement) VS Arminianism’s universal redemption. In 1644, he married Mary Rooke. The couple had 11 children, 10 died in infancy. One daughter survived to adulthood, married, and died shortly following. His wife died in 1675. He died in 1683 and is buried in Bunhill Fields.

2. Difficult to read. Thinks in Latin. Writes in English. Of Temptation (1658) is probably his most readable work.

3. Early Owen (1650’s) VS later Owen (1680’s)—Mortification (Sin) to Vivification (Glory)

*Required Reading: Packer’s Introductory Essay to John Owen’s Death of Death in the Death of Christ. Download PDF: http://www.all-of-grace.org/pub/others/deathofdeath.html

I. Taxonomy of the Human Soul = Trinity of Faculties

1. Mind/Understanding 2. Affections/Emotions 3. Will/Volition

“The faculties move cross and contrary to one another; the will chooses not the good which the mind discovers. Commonly the affections get the sovereignty, and draw the whole soul captive after them” (VI:173).

“Affections are in the soul as the helm is in the ship; if it be laid hold on by a skillful hand, he will turn the whole vessel which ever way he pleases. . . . [I]t is vain to contend with anything that has the power of affections in its disposal; it will prevail at last” (VII:397).

The “Heart” is the soul’s core, the center of all three overlapping, converging circles (faculties). Heart Renewal involves:

1) Renewing your mind with truth of the gospel (Christ as Prophet) 2) Renewing your affections with the beauty of the gospel (Christ as Priest) 3) Renewing your behaviors with the demands of the gospel (Christ as King)

II. Taxonomy of Temptation: Mind deceived à 2. Emotions enticed à 3. Will consents

Owen, like Richard Baxter and Jonathan Edwards, taught the primacy of the intellect, i.e. the mind is the entry point of the soul. There is a progressive sequence of steps involved in sinning, that normally begins with the mind, flows to the affections, which then drive the behaviors.

“The first way whereby sin acts itself, or coins its motions and inclinations into acts, is by the imagination, Gen vi. 5. The continual evil figments of the heart are as the bubbling of corrupt waters from a corrupted fountain” (VII:520).

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:14-15

1. Sin Deceives the Mind (“But each person is tempted when he is lured…”)

There is a lie you believe at the core of every sin you commit. The truth is covered and concealed. The benefits of the sin are exaggerated and the consequences are minimized.

2. Sin Entices the Emotions (“…and enticed by his own desire….”)

3. Sin Consents the Will (“…Then desire when it has conceived…)

– “God, in his mercy, keeps us (true followers of Christ) from the last two consequences.”–

4. Sin Develops (“…and sin, when it is fully grown..”)

5. Sin Kills (“…brings forth death.”)

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Gen 3:1-5

“Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Gen 3:11b-13

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Rev 12:9

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Heb 3:13

Causation: A principle way that sin deceives the mind is by emphasizing “cheap grace.”

“Here then is where the deceit of sin intervenes. It separates the doctrine of grace from its purpose. It persuades us to dwell upon the notion of grace and diverts our attention from the influence that grace gives to achieve its proper application in holy lives. From the doctrine of assured pardon of sin, it insinuates a carelessness for sin. God in Christ makes a true proposition, but Satan with sin makes a false conclusion.”

“This is the test of the real efficacy of the gospel: It keeps the heart humble, lowly, sensible to sin, and broken on that account. The Sprit of grace moves us to repentance and teaches us to detest sin. But if men remain secretly or insensibly loosened and relaxed in their thoughts of sin, then they cling to a false spirit of grace.”

“The deceitfulness of sin takes advantage of the doctrine of grace to abuse it, stretching the soul’s sense of liberty beyond the limit that God assigns. Some never feel from from legalism unless they indulge in sensuality and plunge into its depths. Sin pleads that certain limits are quite unnecessary. “Shouldn’t the gospel relieve one of such narrow bounds?” they argue. But does this mean we should live as if the gospel was unnecessary or as though pardon of sin was nonessential?”

“The first argument suggests that the new creature does not need to live so strictly. The manner of vigilance against sin is overly scrupulous, it argues. The second argument contends that when sin is committed, it is not serious after all. It will not lead to the destruction of the soul, because it will be pardoned by the grace of the gospel. The truth is thus twisted into deception; and it is a source of temptation to sin once more. It becomes a deadly poison when it is thought to be a nourishing food. The mind thus becomes careless about sin, and the sense of sin’s vileness is lost.”

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,” Titus 2:11-12

III. The Dominion of Sin and the Influence of Sin: Romans 6

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?...For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin…So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus…For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?” Romans 6

“Wherefore, to be freed from the dominion of sin is not to be freed absolutely from all sin, so as that it should in no sense abide in us any more.”

The Biblical Ethic (Romans 6): Grace motivates obedience. The root of salvation/sanctification is our union with Christ, especially in his death and the power of his resurrection. Because Jesus died we died. Because Jesus was raise, we are raised, etc.

1. The Already/Not Yet • You are already freed from sin’s DOMINANCE. • You are not yet freed from sin’s INFLUENCE.

2. The Promises of the Gospel: Too Much/Too Little • Don’t promise too much: Free from sin’s INFLUENCE • Don’t Promise too little: Not free from sin’s DOMINANCE

IV. Growing Downward: Putting Off The Old–Repentance–Mortification

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30

“Bring thy lust to the gospel, not for relief, but for further conviction of its guilt; look on him whom thou hast pierced, and be in bitterness. Say to thy soul “What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace have I despised and trampled on! Is this the return I make to the Father for his love, to the Son for His blood, to the Holy Ghost for his grace?” (VI:58)

“When Christ comes with his spiritual power upon the soul to conquer it to himself, he hath no quiet landing place. He can set foot upon no ground but what he must fight for” (VI:181).

“Some look upon it as an easy task. But is it for nothing that the Holy Spirit expresses it by mortification, or killing? Certainly this intimates a violent contest. Everything will do its utmost to preserve its life. Let no man think to kill sin with a few gentle strokes. He, who has once smitten the serpent, if he does not follow his blow until it is killed, may repent that he ever began the quarrel in the first place; and so will he who undertakes to deal with sin, if he does not pursue it constantly to death; sin will revive, and the man must die” (III:311).

“Mortify means ‘kill’ and the end aimed at in this duty is destruction, as it is in all killing: the utter ruin, destruction and gradual annihilation of all the remainders of this cursed life of sin” (III:545).

“The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin” (VI:7).

“We must mortify our affections so that we become more engaged in the worship of God than in the worship of our idols” (VI:159).

V. Growing Upward: Putting On the New–Faith–Vivification (Worship)

“Vivification is the most effective means of mortification.”

“The expulsive power of a new affection.”

“[T]he daily exercise of faith on Christ as crucified . . . is the great fundamental means of mortification of sin in general” (VII:527).

“The one thing most needed in our recovery and revival is a steady view of the glory of Christ, in his person, grace and office through faith. . . a constant, lively exercise of faith in him as he is revealed to us in Scripture. This is the only way to be revived and to receive such grace as will keep us fresh and flourishing even in old age” (VII:166).

“If we settle for mere speculations and mental notions about Christ as doctrine, we shall find no transforming power or efficacy communicated unto us thereby. But when, under the conduct of spiritual light, our affections do cleave unto Him with full purpose of heart, our minds fill up with thoughts and delight in Him--then virtue [change in character] will proceed from Him to purify us, increase our holiness, and sometimes fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory (VII:297).

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Col 3:1-3

“This is what transforms us daily into the likeness of Christ. So let us live in constant contemplation of the glory of Christ, and power will flow from him to us, healing all our declensions, renewing a right spirit in us and enabling us to abound in all the duties that God requires of us.”