The death of death in the death of Christ - John Owen

Yes , RB . I have it on the other coast . I read through it all and was quite impressed . His depth is too much for many Christians of today . Owen dug into the Bible with such keen penetration . It's been said that no one has been able to refute his analysis . I agree .

Packer's Intro can be a stand-alone booklet . However , he does an excellent summary of some major points of Owen's treatment of the subject .

How we desperately need an Owen for these days , even a Thomas Goodwin will do .

 

It's certainly a tough read.

More people would read it if they renamed it, "Purpose Driven Death".

Rob

 

I would warmly reccommend "Life By His Death", an easy-to-read version of Owen's book. It is published by Evangelical Press in its "Great Christian Classics" series. Details are available here: http://www.evangelicalpress.org/esales/product_info.php?products_id=446

The series also includes:

"Sin is Serious" (Ralph Venning's "Plague of Plagues")

"The Glory of Christ" (Owen's book of the same title)

"Christians are Forever!" (Owen's "The doctrine of the saints' perseverance explained and confirmed")

"Learning to be Happy" (Jeremiah Bourroughs' "'The rare jewel of Christian contentment")

"Walking with God" (J. C. Ryle's "Practical Religion")

"Born Slaves" (Luther's "Bondage of the Will")

"Biblical Christianity" (Calvin's "Institutes")

"God Willing" (John Flavel's "Divine Conduct Or The Mystery Of Providence")

and several others. The series was originally put out by Grace Publications Trust, with a view to providing translators with simpler versions of the "classics", thus making them easier to translate into languages other than English, and also to help Christians for whom English is only their second or third language. The series soon became popular among English speakers also.

I hope the above doesn't count as advertising - I have no business interest whatsoever in any publishing company. I am only posting details of this series as it may not be well known outside the UK.

 

I first came accross "The Death Of Death In the Death of Christ" when i was a very young christian, over 40 years ago. Took me a while to work out the title!! Once I'd done that, a great blessing in itself, I gradually worked through the book, it was hard - but very profitable. Nowadays I look back and think maybe it wasn't the easiest way to start with the puritan writers, but I'm glad I read it.

Jeremiah Bourroughs' "'The rare jewel of Christian contentment" as published by the Banner of Truth Trust was my second forray into the puritans, seemed quite easy after Owen

Regards
Bob

 

Norman Geisler explored and commented on this Owen book in his Systematic Theology, Vol. 3. Anyone who has read Owen should explore those comments.

 

Thanks. I imagine that what many regard as Owen's irrefutable treatise is summed up in what has come to be known as "Owen's Classic Question," which appears in "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ":

"The Father Imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for either:

1. All the sins of all men.

2. All the sins of some men, or

3. Some of the sins of all men​

In which case it may be said:


a. That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved.

b. That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.

c. But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?


You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!"​