Grandiloquence and Application: John Owen, a Master of Both

-

I am currently reading some of John Owen’s commentary on Hebrews.  I absolutely love John Owen.  He was a great theologian, but he was mindful of the every-day battles.

In one place, he writes:

FIRST, The illative, “wherefore,” as was first observed, denotes both the deduction of the ensuing exhortation from the preceding discourse, and the application of it unto the particular duty which he enters upon, verse 12.

WOW!  That is some academic stuff!  However, only a few sentences later, we read from his pen and his heart:

Divine knowledge is like a practical science; the end of all whose principles and theorems is in their practice; take that away and it is of no use. It is our wisdom and understanding how to live unto God; to that purpose are all the principles, truths, and doctrines of it to be improved.If this be not done in the teaching and learning of it, we fight uncertainly, as men beating the air.

That is a gem!!!  That is something you can take with you.  Teachers and learners of the Word must both work on the application of the divine truth they know!  If you want to get started in reading any of Owen’s work, here are some amazing ones that have been edited to be more readable:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pray for Zimbabwe: Election on March 29th

-
In a previous post , I relayed the horrible situation dealing with  Zimbabwe's economy.  The presidential election will be held tomorrow, and anything could happen.  The hope is that a civil war will not break out.  We put our trust wholly in the Sovereignty of God, and we affirm the words of Daniel: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings ; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding."   (Dan 2:20b-21) This recent article from the BBC may be helpful as you pray over the Sovereign Lord's appointment tomorrow.  Yes, He is sovereign, yet we are still responsible for our action/non-action!   It is a sad thing when the bride of Christ is numb to the suffering in the world.  May she weep over the terror in the world, but may the tears shed not be shallow.  They must be tears of action and compassion....
Read more

A Great Little Book on the Gospel

-
Image
R. C. Sproul has said that the American Church is in Pelagian Captivity. Basically, this means that we have misunderstood the doctrines of that surround God's grace with regard to saving sinners. Our understanding of God's grace has such an influence over how we view the world, ourselves, and God. How do we become a holy people? Can we lose our salvation? These things must be understand, but they cannot be discussued without a proper biblical foundation. In addressing these questions, we find ourselves quickly at the point where we wonder, "How are we saved to begin with?" James Montgomery Boice (now deceased) and Philip Graham Ryken wrote a wonderful book that addresses the work of God in salvation! This is an extremely readable book that will be encouraging to the believer. Hard passages from the Bible about these things are not ignored, and the the believer will be challenged to be biblical in their doctrine in spite of the worldly philosophies propagate...
Read more

When the Narcissist will not Weep, Part 3

-
The Arrogance of Blindness We can look at the friends of Job. Notice that they are said to be his friends. This is meaningful to us because they have a past with Job. They know him well. We so often identify Job when it may behoove us to realize we could easily identify with his friends. When our brother is in pain, we are likely to break the silence with a word out of season (cf. Proverbs 15:23). Why would we do such a thing? We think our answers are the balm needed. We have the solution, and we know the right time to give it. We refuse to take time in the situation to learn from the one who is suffering. We arrogantly proclaim that we must know the situation better. We know the pain better. We presume to be wise. We are fools. It is as though a question is being asked in suffering that the one suffering needs to answer. However, unless we are astute in our listening to the question, we answer too quickly. We share the guilt of the one in the proverb who “gives an an...
Read more