E-Book, Englisch, 464 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-4335-1769-3
Verlag: Crossway
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John Owen (1616-1683) was vice-chancellor of Oxford University and served as advisor and chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. Among the most learned and active of the Puritans in seventeenth-century England, he was accomplished both in doctrine and practical theology.
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INTRODUCTION LIFE IN THE MIDST OF BATTLE: JOHN OWEN’S APPROACH TO SIN, TEMPTATION, AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE KELLY M. KAPIC “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”1 WHY READ JOHN OWEN? Sitting across from me in our London flat with warm tea in her hand and shortbread on the table, my wife had a revelation. During recent conversations we had been praying that God would provide a mentor for me while I was working on my Ph.D.—someone who would ask the hard questions, challenge my thinking and living, and consistently point me to the love of the Father. As we sat talking that morning, in what had become normal language around our home, I began another sentence with, “Do you know what Owen said yesterday … ?” Stopping me, Tabitha interjected, “You are being mentored. Listen to how you refer to John Owen, as if he were still alive. He is your mentor.” She was right. Although Owen had been dead for centuries, I found myself in almost daily dialogue with this prominent Puritan whose thought was serving as the object of my doctoral studies. While recognizing the cultural and historical differences between Owen’s time and my own was of vital importance for my academic research, still I was often drawn into a living dialogue with this intriguing man. Sometimes I found myself frustrated with his methods or conclusions, but very often his insights simply captured me. His words would stir me to the point of honest self-examination and an ever-growing appreciation for the glory and love of God. I can recall many a time when I would have to stop reading, stand up, and just walk around for awhile, trying to digest a profound sentence. While a person from another century cannot serve as a replacement for living and breathing fellowship, I have learned the value of listening to the saints of old, and this Puritan theologian is certainly a voice worth hearing. I sometimes think of Dr. John Owen as a perceptive physician who delivers both a terrifying diagnosis and the means of a miraculous cure. John Owen was born in the year of William Shakespeare’s death, 1616, and his life paralleled an exciting and tumultuous century in Britain.2 Before he died in 1683, Owen had experienced life as an army chaplain, a political insider, Vice Chancellor of Oxford, a leading Puritan theologian, faithful pastor, father, and husband. He had also known great personal loss. Though he had eleven children with his first wife, only one of them survived beyond adolescence; the one girl who did survive ended up returning to live with her father after her marriage collapsed, and while in his home she died of consumption.3 Such painful experience cannot help but leave a deep imprint on a person. On the professional level Owen’s career had reached great heights, such as preaching before Parliament, leading Oxford University, and having friendships with those in the highest positions of authority, including Oliver Cromwell. Yet he also lived through the loss of power and position, as his country moved away from a Puritan-influenced government back to a country led by a King who was less than excited about the Puritan ideals.4 Throughout the various seasons of his life Owen proved himself a most able author: the authoritative nineteenth-century edition of his works fill twenty-four tightly printed volumes.5 Amid his extensive writings, which include biblical commentaries and exhaustive (and exhausting!) treatments of doctrines like justification and the atonement, Owen also produced devotional literature that quickly became beloved. In the volume you are reading we have selected three of his classics on spirituality—although it needs to be said that he viewed all of his discourses as spiritual exercises and not as something void of practical import. In these three particular works we find Owen’s detailed reflections on sin, temptation, and the believer’s call to holiness. In 1656 Owen first published Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. In 1658 that volume was slightly revised and another short treatise, Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It, was also printed. During the time that these two books were published, Owen was still serving as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford University, and the substance of both discourses grew out of brief sermons that Owen delivered during his tenure there. Young students were most likely the bulk of his original audience—Owen had entered Queen’s College Oxford as a student at the age of twelve, which was not uncommon for the time.6 One consequence of addressing this youthful audience seems to be that his reflections tend toward the concrete and practical, emphasizing the particular rather than lingering too long on the abstract. Here were young people who were beginning to experience the complexity of sin and self, and Owen was compelled to help. Crucial to resisting sin and temptation, according to Owen, was an understanding of what you were fighting. Although written a decade later, Owen’s explorations on these practical subjects are further unpacked in his book, The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin (1667). Here Owen focuses on the power of sin not as it exists “out there,” but as it exists “within” a person. By the time this volume was published, Owen’s context had significantly changed: he had been removed from the academic setting, had watched the return of Charles II, and had personally witnessed the governmental crackdown on nonconformist Puritan preachers. But for Owen, circumstances—whether amiable or painful—were not an excuse to stop resisting sin. The call of holiness was a call from God himself, and thus not contingent upon the state of affairs in which one finds oneself. Christians are called to war against sin. According to Owen, this means they are called to learn the art of battle, which includes understanding the nature of sin, the complexity of the human heart, and the goodness and provision of God. Following a classic stream of orthodox theology, Owen argues that humility is crucial to growth in the Christian life, and proper humility comes from “a due consideration” both of God and of oneself.7 Only from this perspective can one be in a right position to approach the call to holiness. KNOWING YOURSELF Owen’s varied experiences, such as working with students (not to mention faculty) and providing pastoral care, gave him ample opportunity for reflection on the way that sin weaves its way into every aspect of people’s lives. Two particular challenges about human nature that appear in these volumes deserve brief comment: his attempt to present a holistic view of the human person, and his belief that personality differences must be considered when dealing with sin. Engaging the Whole Person Contemporary readers may at first glance struggle with Owen’s detailed parsing of human nature and sin, believing that his reflections are dated and irrelevant. However, upon closer examination the reader may begin to recognize that although Owen does not use current labels, he is dealing with very contemporary issues, such as depression, addiction, apathy, and lust. One of Owen’s concerns was that some people reduced the struggle with sin to a problem centered on the physical body. They had taken the biblical language of the “body of sin” (Rom 6:6, esv) and inappropriately treated it as a literal reference to physicality. This misunderstanding leads to what Owen considers the monastic “mistake”: believing that rigid regiments that yield greater physiological control will eventually diminish the sin that lies in a person.8 For Owen, while the body is important, it is but the instrument for the real problem. Using classic faculty-psychology categories of the mind, the will, and the affections, Owen consistently attempts to present a holistic perspective of the human person, and this informs his view of sin and sanctification.9 Originally humanity was created without sin, and thus their mind rightly reflected on the Creator and his creation, their affections properly loved God, and their will followed after the good. However, with the fall these faculties became disordered. Even after believers are redeemed by God they will continue to struggle with the abiding vestiges of sin that disorient the faculties, a condition that remains throughout their earthly life.10 Sin moves by drawing the mind away from God, enticing the affections and twisting desires and paralyzing the will, thus stunting any real Christian growth.11 One of the most frightening truths that Owen wants the believer to recognize is that “Your enemy is not only upon you … but is in you also.”12 Part of understanding the battle against sin is seeing that the enemy, so to speak, is not only external, but internal, which is why Christians often have conflicting desires within them.13 Most Christians seem unaware of or apathetic about the sin that remains in them, but whether they recognize it or not there is a “living coal continually in their houses,” which, if not properly attended to, will catch their home on fire.14 As the Scriptures often call attention to the “heart” or “soul” of a person, Owen argues that such references tend to be shorthand for the various faculties, and thus to deal with sin the whole person must be engaged.15 Although Owen gives ample attention to each of the faculties, let us focus on the affections as a test case to show the nature of sin and temptation. Far too often Christians working within the Reformed tradition have been guilty of...
