And herein is a solemn prefiguration of the implanting of believers of all nations into the covenant and faith of Abraham; for this name he received upon the solemn establishment of the covenant with him, as the apostle explains the place, Rom. . . . Continue reading →
John Owen
Owen: Christians Are In The Same Church As Abraham (2)
It remains, then, that the church founded in the covenant, and unto which all the promises did and do belong, abode at the coming of Christ, and doth abide ever since, in and among those who are the children of Abraham by . . . Continue reading →
Owen: Christians Are In The Same Church As Abraham (3)
And this doth and must determine the difference between the Jews and Christians about the promises of the Old Testament. They are all made unto the church. No individual person hath any interest in them but by virtue of his membership therewith. . . . Continue reading →
Update: John Owen Is Still Not A Baptist
Obs. III. Divine institutions cease not without an express divine abrogation.—Where they are once granted and erected by the authority of God, they can never cease without an express act of the same authority taking them away. So was it with the . . . Continue reading →
Owen: The New Covenant Was Inaugurated After The Fall And Christ Was Its Mediator
[5.] We on all accounts stand in need of a surety for us, or on our behalf. Neither without the interposition of such a surety could any covenant between God and us be firm and stable, or “an everlasting covenant, ordered in . . . Continue reading →
Owen: God Revealed To Moses The Incarnation And Mediation Of Christ
That God did spiritually and mystically represent unto Moses the incarnation and mediation of Christ, with the church of the elect which was to be gathered thereby, and its spiritual worship. And moreover, he let him know how the tabernacle and all . . . Continue reading →
John Owen Defended Eternal Generation Against The Socinians
He Also Opposed Biblicism
Now, if Christ be not begotten of the essence of his Father, he is only a metaphorical Son of God by way of allusion, and cannot be called the proper Son of God, being only one who hath but a similitude to a proper Son Continue reading →
Owen Gives Us Theological Reasons To Object To Intinction
2. The special object of faith, as justifying, is not the special object of faith in this ordinance. The special object of faith, as justifying, is the promise, and Christ in the promise, in general, as “the Saviour of sinners:” so when . . . Continue reading →
Owen: In Order To Appreciate The Glory Of Christ’s Righteousness Imputed We Must First Know Our Sin
The deformity of soul which came upon us in the loss of the image of God, wherein in beauty and harmony of all our faculties, in all their actings in order unto their utmost end, did consist; that enmity unto God, even . . . Continue reading →
Owen: Either We Are Justified Sola Fide Or By An Inherent Righteousness
It is true, that all those who place the formal cause or reason of our justification in ourselves, or our inherent righteousness, and so either directly or by just consequence, deny all imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto our justification,
Owen: We Are Sanctified Because We Are Justified But We Are Not Justified Because We Are Sanctified
Now, to be justified is to be freed from the guilt of sin, or to have all our sins pardoned, and to have a righteousness wherewith to appear before God, so as to be accepted with him, and a right to the . . . Continue reading →
John Owen Defended Infant Baptism
III. The question is not whether all infants are to be baptized or not; for, according to the will of God, some are not to be baptized, even such whose parents are strangers from the covenant. But hence it will follow that . . . Continue reading →
Another Reason Why The Covenant Of Works Matters
Yesterday a prominent evangelical theologian tweeted “The gospel does not begin with Genesis 3 and human sin. The gospel begins with Genesis 1 and God’s goodness and our grandeur. If we start with Genesis 3, we make the gospel seem tiresome, predictable. . . . Continue reading →
Fascinating Comments From John Owen
Paul Helm is always worth reading, in part, because he is always reading and doing so well. The other day he posted Continue reading
Owen: Law and Gospel
The law is connatural to him; his domestic, his old acquaintance came into the world with him, and hath grown up with him from his infancy. It was implanted in his heart by nature, is his own reason; he can never shake . . . Continue reading →
Owen: Thankfulness For Grace Received Is A Principal Duty Of Believers
Thankfulness for grace received is one of the principal duties that is incumbent on believers in this world. Now, how can a man in faith bless God for that which he is utterly uncertain whether he have received it from him or . . . Continue reading →
John Owen Did Not Read Hebrews Like A Baptist (Part 1)
It is the habit of some of our Particular Baptist friends to imply, suggest, or even to say plainly that the great English Reformed theologian John Owen (1616–1683) was practically Baptist in his covenant theology.1 He is arguably one of the greatest theologians . . . Continue reading →
John Owen Did Not Read Hebrews Like A Baptist (Part 2)
In his exercitation on “the oneness of the church” Owen argued seven points. Each and all of them were in the service of what Reformed theology calls the unity of the covenant of grace. For Owen and the mainstream of Reformed orthodoxy, . . . Continue reading →
John Owen Did Not Read Hebrews Like A Baptist (Part 3)
It is a small thing—so small that it might go unnoticed—but as in Exercitation VI, in Exercitation XIX where Owen considered the “State and Ordinances of the Church Before the Giving of the Law,” he consistently spoke of the “Jewish church.”1 To . . . Continue reading →
John Owen Did Not Read Hebrews Like A Baptist (Part 4)
In volume three, where Owen begins his commentary proper on the text of Hebrews, he makes illuminating remarks on Hebrews 3:1–2, about how he understood the movement of redemptive history and the comparison and contrast that Paul makes in Hebrews between Moses . . . Continue reading →