Getting to grips with John Owen

Having had a very busy but very blessed fortnight of outreach with the team from Northern Ireland, I decided I needed to get some spiritual nourishment and have opted to dive into the depths of John Owen. Having bought R.J.K. Law's abridged and modernised version of "Communion with God" and had several failed attempts at reading it I am determined this time to stick with it. If you have never read John Owen imagine reading a 17th century version of Don Carson and you will have some idea of why this is such a challenge.

The important thing I am learning about Owen is that he is not to be read in a hurry and that he is best read with a pen, Bible and notebook to hand. If you were really really hungry you might be able to eat an 18 inch pizza yourself but you would not try to wolf it down in one bite. The same is true of Owen. The depth of his exegesis is such that you must chew over every phrase to get the most out of it.

Here are some of the choicest extracts I have read so far:

In reference to the disciples talking to Jesus in John 14 and wondering if He would accept them Owen says, "Jesus, in effect, says, 'Don't worry about that. I do not have to pray that the Father may love you, for this is His special attitude towards you. He Himself loves you. It is true indeed that I will pray the Father to send you the Spirit, the Comforter. But as for that free, eternal love, there is no need for me to pray for that, because above all things the Father loves you. Be fully assured in your hearts that the Father loves you. Have fellowship with the Father in His love. Have no fears or doubts about His love for you. The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to Him is not to believe that He loves you. '" How easy it is at times to doubt God's love for us but here we see that this grieves God's heart!

This next one is a "beezer"! "Christians are often worried as to whether God loves them or not. They are fully persuaded of Christ's love and good-will to them, but the difficulty they have is whether the Father accepts them and loves them...Such thoughts ought to be far from us. The Father's love ought to be looked on as the source from which all other loves flow." (N.B. see e.g. Titus 3v4)

Two things strike me about Owen. One is how Trinitarian his exposition is and like all the other Puritans his high Christology. In chapter 1 (The saints have communion with God) I count SEVEN times that he somehow refers to the link between our communion with God the Father and the work of Christ. This is also seen in chapter 3 (Communion with God the Father) where he says, "It is true that we do not come directly to the Father by faith. We can only come to Him by the Son...Through Christ, then, we have access to the Father, we behold the Father's glory also and enjoy fellowship with the Father in His own special love. All this we receive by faith. As we come to the Father's love through Christ, so the Father's love comes to us through Christ. The light of the sun comes to us by its beams. By its beams we see the sun, and by its beams the sun touches us. Jesus Christ is the beam of His Father's love and through Him [i.e. Christ] the Father's love reaches down and touches us. By Jesus Christ also we see and experience and are led up to the Father's love. If we, as believers, would meditate on this truth more and live in the light of it, there would be great spiritual growth in our walk with God." Wow!

So get to your nearest Christian bookshop or dust off that John Owen book from your shelf and get digging. I am sure you will find like me that his work will bless your soul and cause you to dig deeper into God's Word.

Soli Deo Gloria semper.