Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Mind of God in the Scripture | John Owen

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The Mind of God in the Scripture | John Owen · Reformed Thinking

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You know, if you break your arm and X-ray gives you this very
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binary answer, yeah. It is broken or it isn't right.
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You look at that jagged white line on the black film and the
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Doctor points to it and you have instant precision.
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There is 0 ambiguity there. Sure, is very cut and dry.
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What? What happens when you apply that
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same expectation of mechanical precision to the mind of God?
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You open a Bible expecting an X-ray of divine reality, and
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suddenly you realize you are looking at a landscape that is
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intensely murky. Oh, it can be incredibly
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confusing. Yeah, I mean, two people can
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look at the very same pages, read the very same verses, and
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walk away with entirely divergent conclusions about the
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nature of reality, salvation, and human existence.
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And we see that happen all the time.
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We really do. So welcome to Reformed thinking.
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Today we are taking a deep dive into how we actually fix that
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issue. It is a massive topic.
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It is we are setting out on a very specific mission today to
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investigate the methods for accurately understanding the
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text, and we are doing it by looking over the shoulder of a
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guy who gave spiritual counsel to the architects of a royal
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execution. Yes, we are talking about John
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Owen today, specifically his treatise on finding the mind of
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God in the Scripture. Which is such a heavy text.
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It is, but look over his shoulder is the right way to
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frame it. Owen is an absolute Titan of
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17th century theology. I mean, he lived through some of
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the most volatile political and religious upheavals in European
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history. Things were just completely
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chaotic back then. Totally chaotic.
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So our goal today is to synthesize his rigorous, almost
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exhausting intellectual framework with his absolute
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reliance on spiritual assistance.
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We want to give you a practical guide for your own study.
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Right, because before we can even talk about his rules for
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reading, we have to look at the man himself, right?
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You cannot separate his method from his.
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Life. No, you really cannot.
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John Owen lived from 1616 to 1683.
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Which means we are talking about the English Civil War.
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Spot on. We are talking about a nation
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literally tearing itself apart over questions of authority, and
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that means both political authority and divine authority.
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It was a brutal time to be alive, let alone to be a public
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figure. It really.
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Was. And to call John Owen a
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theologian almost feels insufficient.
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I mean, alongside Richard Baxter, he was the most eminent
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dissenter of his time. Let's clarify that for a second.
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Dissenters were Protestants who separated from the Church of
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England. Right, Yes, and they faced
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severe consequences for doing that.
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But Owen was so brilliant that he operated at the highest
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echelons of national influence anyway.
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Even with that label attached. To yeah, his mind was that
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undeniable. And the defining moment for
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understanding his weight comes in January 1649.
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Which is the execution of King Charles the First?
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Yes. Just pause and think about the
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psychological shockwave of that event.
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You have a nation that has believed in the divine right of
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kings for centuries. It was the bedrock of their
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whole society. Exactly.
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And they do not just depose him, they take him out and they cut
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his head off in public. The political tension in London
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must have been absolutely suffocating.
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Oh, it is hard to overstate the tension.
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The men who orchestrated this Parliament have just committed
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regicide. The entire continent of Europe
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is looking at them in absolute horror.
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And who do they call the very next day to step into the pulpit
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and address them? They call John Owen.
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That detail is just staggering to me.
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It really is when the men who just executed the king need
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spiritual counsel to justify their actions.
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Or, you know, at least Orient themselves before God in the
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immediate aftermath. Owen is the man they trust.
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It speaks volumes about his stature.
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Yeah, it shows he was not some isolated academic sitting in a
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dusty library. He was actively shaping the
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conscience of the government. And his influence just kept
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growing from from there. General Fairfax recognizes his
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merit during the Civil War, and then Oliver Cromwell himself
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steps in. Right.
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Cromwell brings him right into his inner circle.
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Cromwell does not just read Owens books, he takes Owen as
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his chaplain to Ireland and Scotland.
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Owen becomes an ecclesiastical advisor.
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I mean, he is shaping policy for the leader of the nation.
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But he also maintained very intense principles.
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He was not just a yes man, not at all.
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Later on there was a massive movement to make Oliver Cromwell
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king, and Owen fiercely opposed it.
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Which is a huge risk. A massive risk.
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He had unparalleled access to the most powerful man in the
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country, and he risked all of that influence because he
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disagreed on principle. He actually fell out of
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Cromwell's favor over this. Wow.
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Yeah. And then later in 1658, he
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becomes a primary architect of the Savoy Conference.
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He gathered independent ministers to draft a shared
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confession of faith. I want to stop and define that
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for a second. Just to be clear, the Savoy
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Conference was not just a casual networking event.
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This was the attempt to solidify a theological identity for an
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entire movement of churches. Right.
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It was highly strategic and incredibly consequential.
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And then the monarchy comes back, Charles the Second is
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restored to the throne, and we hit the great ejection of 1662.
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Let's make sure we unpack what that was.
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The Great Ejection is a catastrophic moment for English
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dissenters. The restored monarchy passes the
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Act of Uniformity. This essentially demanded that
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all clergy conform strictly to the Church of England's
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practices. And if they refuse?
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Well over 2000 ministers refused and they were immediately
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ejected from their pulpits. They lost their livelihoods,
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their homes and their legal standing.
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Many were completely impoverished.
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Just wiped out overnight and Owen is caught right in this
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crossfire. He is, but his reputation is so
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massive that even King Charles the Second respects him.
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Wait, Charles the Second is the son of the King Owen's allies
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executed, right? Yes.
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The irony is incredible. Charles the Second would
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occasionally give Owen money to distribute to those impoverished
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ejected ministers. That is wild.
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You have a guy who is respected, elected by the men who killed
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the king, and later respected by that dead King's son.
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It just shows the sheer weight of his character.
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John Owen is like a modern day high level political advisor or
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a top tier diplomat who is simultaneously writing rigorous
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pastoral theology. Which is why his method for
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reading scripture carries so much authority.
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But. Hold on, I have a massive push
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back here. OK, let's hear it.
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Does the study method of a 17th century political theologian
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apply to a guy sitting on the train in 2026?
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I think it does, absolutely. I mean, if I am just a regular
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person trying to read my Bible for 15 minutes before I clock in
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at my accounting job, does a framework built by a man who
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debated national policy with Oliver Cromwell really translate
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to my life? It translates perfectly,
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actually. His historical weight validates
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the method he creates. How so?
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Think about it. Here is a man accustomed to the
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highest levels of national governance.
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He engaged in the sharpest intellectual debates of his era.
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He had a mind that could synthesize complex legal and
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theological arguments on the fly.
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Right, he was a genius. Yes, but he concluded that human
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reason alone is completely insufficient for discovering
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divine truth. He strips away all of his
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academic and political accolades when he approaches the biblical
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text. So he is saying his massive
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intellect is virtually useless without the right mechanics.
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Precisely, and that levels the playing field for you.
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Whether you are a statesman advising a ruler or an everyday
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believer sitting at your kitchen table, The required posture
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before the text is identical. Wow.
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OK, so the intellect that advised Cromwell is putting
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itself on the exact same footing as a teenager opening the Gospel
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of John for the first time. That is exactly it.
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He relies on the Spirit, not his resume.
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That drastically lowers the barrier to entry, but it also
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raises the stakes. I mean, if John Omi needs help,
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I definitely need help. We all do.
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So how does he start? What is the baseline requirement
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for understanding the text? Well, he begins with how we
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physically approach the material.
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Owen makes a sharp distinction between two types of reading.
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The first he calls frequent or cursory reading.
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Now, to modern ears, the word cursory sounds pretty
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dismissive. If I give something a cursory
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glance, it means I skimmed it and ignored the details.
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Right, I get that, but Owen is using it to describe a broad
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continuous exposure. He points back to the Hebrew
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Scriptures for this. Like Moses talking to the
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Israelites. Yes, like Moses telling the
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Israelites in Deuteronomy to write the laws on their
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doorposts and teach them constantly to their children, he
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expects believers to have a general, broad exposure to the
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words. You should know the geography of
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the text. He lists specific benefits to
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this too. He says it brings the mind into
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a general acquaintance with the nature of the book.
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You learn to distinguish the historical books from the
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prophetical ones. Which is a necessary first step.
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Yeah, and you furnish your mind with new conceptions about God.
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He also notes that this broad reading exercises your senses to
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discern good and evil. That part is crucial.
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Like if someone suggests a highly corrupt interpretation of
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a passage to you, this frequent reading gives you an instinctual
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readiness to oppose it. It contradicts the general tone
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of what you have absorbed elsewhere.
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Right, it builds your theological immune system.
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He also notes that it provides an occasion for divine influence
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on the soul, but he draws a hard line here.
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What is the line? All of those benefits are
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necessary, but this cursory reading is not what he means
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when he talks about investigating the mind of God.
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He contrasts this broad reading with what he calls studying.
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Studying that sounds a lot more intense.
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Yes, which he defines as a staid, sedate, rational
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consideration. Sedate consideration.
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Yeah, he looks at the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in the book
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of Acts to illustrate this. Oh, right, the eunuch is riding
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in his chariot, reading the prophecy of Isaiah.
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And he is pondering it. He is engaged in sedate
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consideration, looking intensely at the text even though he needs
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further assistance to grasp the full meaning.
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I think about it like this Cursory reading is like driving
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through your city every single day.
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I like that analogy. You'll learn the general layout,
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you know where the financial district is, you know where the
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residential neighborhoods are, and you intuitively know how to
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get to the grocery store. It is totally necessary for
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living there. But it doesn't mean you know how
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the buildings were constructed. Right state consideration is
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like pulling your car over, walking up to a specific
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building, rolling out the architectural blueprints, and
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examining the load bearing walls in the electrical wiring.
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You are no longer just absorbing the landscape, you are analyzing
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the structural integrity. That captures his intent
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perfectly. You need the general layout of
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the city so you do not get lost, but you must look at the
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blueprints to understand how the building stands up.
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Both are mandatory. Yes, and Owen points out a
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tragedy that is even more relevant today.
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He says people apply more use and application of means to
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secular writings than they do to.
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Happens all the time. People will spend a hundreds of
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hours studying for an IT certification, memorizing
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intricate coding languages. Or they read massive
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encyclopedes about the lore of a fantasy novel.
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Exactly. But when it comes to the Bible,
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they give it a quick superficial skim and expect some massive
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enlightenment. We have a society dealing with
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widespread biblical illiteracy not because people cannot read,
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but because they refuse to apply intention of mind.
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Owen is calling for deliberate friction.
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You have to slow down. So once the reader has slowed
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down for this sedate consideration, their mind has to
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engage in specific actions. Right, this is where he
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introduces his rules for interpretation, the intellectual
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mechanics of his method. What are those mechanics?
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Because if I am staring at the text, what exactly am I supposed
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to be doing with my brain? First, he says, we must retain
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the analogy of faith. This is a very old concept and
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historic Protestant thought. Let's break that down for the
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listener. It essentially means that
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Scripture interprets scripture. The text has a cohesive
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theological framework. You do not interpret an obscure,
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highly difficult passage in a way that blatantly contradicts
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the clear, repeated teachings found everywhere else.
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Right. So if you find one strange verse
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in a prophetic book, you do not use it to overthrow the
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established doctrine of the nature of God found in 50 other
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plain passages. That is it.
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Next, he insists, we examine the design and scope of the specific
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place in the text. Meaning the author's intent.
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Yes. Why was this written?
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What is the author trying to accomplish in this specific
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chapter then? He says we must diligently
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observe antecedents and consequence.
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Context Looking at the verses that come immediately before and
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immediately after the verse you are isolating.
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Yes, context is everything, and he expands this list quite a
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bit. He demands that the reader
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understand the style, the phraseology, the tropes, the
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figures of speech. That sounds like a lot of work.
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It is you have to recognize logical arguments.
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You need to know the historical times and seasons.
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You must grasp the distinct manner of the specific writer.
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So asking if this is Paul making a rigorous legal argument or is
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this David writing a poetic lament?
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Precisely. You have to compare different
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places in the text and work to reconcile seeming
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contradictions. OK, hold on, I'm getting
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whiplash here. Why is that?
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A second ago, Owen is this highly spiritual guy talking
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about our absolute need for divine assistance.
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Now he is telling me to parse out logical arguments, analyze
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tropes, and memorize historical timelines like I'm studying for
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the LSAT. He expects both.
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Doesn't this turn the Bible into a dry academic textbook?
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How do we keep this from becoming just another secular
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literature seminar? Owen completely anticipates that
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reaction. He firmly believes that these
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rational tools are mandatory duties.
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Mandatory duties, so we cannot skip them.
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No, you cannot. God gave us intellects, logic,
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and the capacity for historical inquiry for a specific reason.
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The Holy Spirit uses our minds. He does not bypass them.
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So the intellect is part of the spiritual process.
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Yes, these disciplinary tools are the necessary groundwork,
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but Owen is equally clear that these tools are totally useless
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without the spiritual engine that drives them.
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Without the engine, the car goes nowhere.
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Right. He actually argues that using
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these tools without divine aid is a fast track to overthrowing
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all religion. Because you start trusting your
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own intellect more than the author of the text.
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That is it. The intellect is the vehicle,
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but it is not the engine. If you only use grammar and
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history, you are treating the Bible like any other ancient
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manuscript. You are missing the divine
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nature of the communication entirely.
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So the intellectual mechanics of the vehicle.
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But prayer is the fuel. Owen is uncompromising on the
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necessity of fervent, earnest prayer for assistance.
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Uncompromising is a good word for it.
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He says this duty practically proves that interpretation is
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above natural reason. His logic is simple but just
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devastating, he says. If we were sufficient of
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ourselves to understand the text with just our outward advantages
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and natural reason, why do we pray?
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To hammer this home, he brings up a major historical conflict.
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He mentions how the ancient church fought the Pelagians on
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the necessity of saving grace using this exact same argument.
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Let's take a minute to define the Pelagians for the listener,
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because that is a massive piece of theological history.
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Yeah, we should. So Pelagianism was a movement in
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the 5th century named after a monk named Pelagius.
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OK, what did he teach? He basically argued that human
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nature was not fundamentally corrupted by original sin.
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He believed humans had the inherent capacity, the natural
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free will, to choose good and perfectly obey God without
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needing special intervening divine grace.
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Which goes directly against the reformed view of human
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depravity. Completely against it.
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The ancient church, LED prominently by Augustine,
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fiercely condemned this. They argued that humanity is
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totally depraved. Meaning our will and our
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reasoning are corrupted by sin. Yes, meaning we desperately need
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God's grace for every aspect of salvation and understanding.
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So when Owen references the Pelagians, he is tapping into
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that ancient debate to make a point about how we read the
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Bible today. Yes, the ancient church told the
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Pelagians. Look, if humans do not need
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divine grace to do good, why does the church constantly pray
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for God to make us good? Oh, that is a great argument.
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Right. The practice of prayer proves
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the necessity of grace. Owen applies that exact same
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logic to reading the Bible. If your brain is perfectly
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capable of extracting the truth using just grammar and history,
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why are you asking God for illumination?
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The fact that you have to pray proves your intellect is
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insufficient on its own. Yes, this gets into what
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theologians call the noetic effects of the fall, the idea
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that human sin did not just damage our morality, it actively
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damaged our reasoning. It broke the way we think,
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right? Our brains do not process divine
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truth correctly on their own. Our minds are actively self
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deceiving, not just passively ignorant.
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For Owen, the practical neglect of prayer is the true reason why
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so many people who are highly skilled in the disciplinary
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means, you know, the brilliant scholars who know all the Greek
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tropes and the historical seasons are yet complete
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strangers to the true knowledge of God.
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Because they rely entirely on their damaged reasoning.
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Exactly. Owen breaks this required prayer
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down into two distinct categories.
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The first is the general teaching of the Spirit.
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What does that involve? This is where you ask God to
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enlighten your mind broadly, but specifically you are asking him
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to cast out what Owen calls the old leaven.
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And he lists what this old leaven consists of.
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It includes prejudices, preconceived opinions,
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engagements by secular advantages, false confidences,
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the authority of men, and influences from parties and
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societies. Look at how massive that list
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is, and think about how intensely it applies to us
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today. Oh, it is devastating.
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When you approach the text, you bring your political leanings,
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you bring your cultural background, you bring your
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desire to be accepted by your social circle.
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You bring your reliance on your favorite commentator, yeah.
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And Ellen says all of that has to be laid entirely level.
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You have to pray for God to exterminate those things from
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your mind. He argues that the enormous
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errors which infest religion arise largely because people
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approach the text holding tightly to their secular
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advantages and corrupt affections.
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They read the Bible simply looking for ammunition to
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support the political or social opinions they already hold.
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Yes, which totally subverts the process.
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Now, the second sort of prayer respects particular occasions.
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This is praying over specific, highly difficult texts.
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And Owen calls prayer the sheet anchor of a faithful expositor.
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A sheet anchor is such a brilliant visual on a 17th
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century sailing ship. The sheet anchor is the largest,
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heaviest anchor on board it. Is the absolute last resort.
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Right. Yes, used only in a catastrophic
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emergency when the storm is raging, the other anchors have
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failed and the ship is about to be smashed against the rocks.
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O Owen is saying that when you are analyzing a passage and you
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have checked the antecedents, you have analyzed the tropes,
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you have considered the historical season, and your
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intellect has completely hit a wall, you drop the sheet anchor.
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You betake yourself to God in a more than ordinary manner.
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You plead for illumination. He issues a stark warning about
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ignoring this step, doesn't he? He does.
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He says that for a man to undertake the solemn
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interpretation of any portion of Scripture without invoking God
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to be taught by His Spirit, is a high provocation of Him.
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A high provocation that is strong language.
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It is sheer arrogance. You are engaging proudly and
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ignorantly in a work far above your natural capacity.
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I think about it like putting on a pair of perfectly prescribed
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reading glasses while sitting in a pitch black room.
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Oh that is a great image. The glasses represent your
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reason, and those disciplinary tools like the grammar, the
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logic, the history, they're completely necessary.
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If your vision is poor, you need the glasses to resolve the words
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on the page. But if the room is dark, the
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glasses are useless. Right.
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Prayer is what turns on the light.
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You still need the glasses to read clearly once the light is
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on, but the light is what makes the reading possible in the
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first place. That is the perfect way to
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visualize the marriage of intellect and spirit, and Owen
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balances his severe warning with incredible comfort.
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He unpacks the promise in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 11 that
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the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him
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which. Gives the listener immense
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security. It really does, because studying
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ancient texts can induce a lot of anxiety.
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You start asking, am I getting this wrong?
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Am I misunderstanding a core doctrine?
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Owen asserts as a sacred truth that whoever abides in fervent
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supplication for the spirit of grace to lead them into truth
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shall be preserved from pernicious errors.
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You might not understand every tiny historical mystery or
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obscure prophetic symbol, but you will attain sufficient
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knowledge to guide and preserve your faith and obedience.
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The fundamental truths necessary for your soul will be secured,
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right? Wait, so let me ask you this.
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If I read the text perfectly using all the intellectual tools
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and I pray perfectly dropping that sheet anchor, am I done?
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No, you are not done. Because I know plenty of people
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who do all of that. They read the Bible in the
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original languages, they pray constantly and there are still
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incredibly arrogant or disconnected from reality.
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That is the crucial pivot in Owen's framework.
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If you have done the intellectual work in the
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spiritual work of prayer, the text must leave a mark on you.
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This brings us to the posture of the heart.
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The posture of the heart. Yes, Owen says the second
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spiritual means is a readiness to receive impressions from
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divine truths. The goal is not just to learn
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the form of the doctrine, but to get its efficacy implanted in
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your soul. He references Romans chapter 6
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verse 17 and 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18.
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He uses this specific phrase, Truth should be get the image
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and likeness of itself in the minds of men.
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To translate that into modern terms, you cannot just treat the
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Bible like a trivia database. You are not just downloading
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information into a mental filing cabinet.
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The data has to rewrite your actual operating system.
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Yes, it has to mold your conscience and your affections.
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He explicitly states that seeking after mere notions of
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truth without an endeavor, after an experience of its vigor in
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our hearts, is entirely the wrong path.
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I want to apply this to a modern scenario.
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Go for it, I would Owen say about a guy today who spends 3
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hours parsing Greek verbs and studying ancient Near Eastern
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history just so he can totally destroy someone in a theological
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debate online. Or even someone who studies
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intensely just to prepare a highly intellectual lesson for a
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Sunday school class. Exactly.
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They are using the tools. They might even pray beforehand,
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but their focus is entirely outward.
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They are reading for the sake of someone else.
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Owen addresses this very directly.
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He acknowledges that men frequently have other ends in
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their study, like the prophet and edification of others or
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winning an argument, but he gives a strict warning.
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If your first design is not to conform your own soul to the
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word, you miss the primary advantage.
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He uses the phrase that they do not strive lawfully nor will be
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crowned. Wow.
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If you seek bare concept without endeavoring to experience their
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vigor in your own heart, you are short circuiting the entire
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mechanism. Truth must address the teacher
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before it can be effectively handed to the student.
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You cannot treat the text as an arsenal for your online debates
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or as a syllabus for your lectures unless it has first
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operated on your own soul. And this internal conformity,
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this rewriting of the operating system, must inevitably manifest
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in external actions. Understanding the text is not
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finished until the text is lived.
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This is my absolute favorite part of Owen's entire framework,
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the concept of practical obedience as a means of
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interpretation. It sounds intensely
23:39
counterintuitive to a modern academic mindset.
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We are trained to separate the acquisition of knowledge from
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the application of knowledge. Like you can understand physics
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perfectly without ever building a bridge.
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Right, but Owen links them inseparably when it comes to
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divine truth. I compare it to reading a manual
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on how to ride a bicycle. You can memorize the physics of
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balance. You can understand the
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gyroscopic effect of the wheels. You can pass a written test on
24:05
the mechanics of the pedals. That is your theology right
24:08
there. But you do not actually
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understand the reality of riding a bike, do you?
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Get on the seat, push the pedals, and feel the balance
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yourself. Practical obedience is the
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laboratory of theology. You only know a truth is real
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when you test it by living it. O in quotes the book of Titus,
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noting that the Gospel is the truth which is according to
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godliness, he states flatly that holy truths will not flourish
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where they are divided from a holy conversation.
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He also references the Gospel of John Chapter 7, verse 17.
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If any man do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine.
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Doing the will of God is the prerequisite for knowing the
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doctrine. And he issues a severe warning
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about the consequences of hypocrisy here.
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This is perhaps his most chilling observation.
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He points out that people actually lose the understanding
24:53
they previously had when they begin to give themselves up to
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ungodly lives. The true notion of holy truths
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will not live in a corrupted vessel.
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If you stop living a godly life, your mind just becomes stuffed
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with notions. That is his exact phrase.
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Stuffed with notion. Yes, it blocks any actual
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streams from descending into your mind from the fountain of
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truth. Without practice, your
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theological knowledge stagnates, rots, and eventually vanishes.
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Because obedience constantly yields new understanding, the
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study of Scripture can never be fully completed.
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Every time you obey, you understand the text slightly
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better, which reveals a new layer of the text, which
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requires a new level of obedience.
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This leads to his requirement for a constant design for
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growth. Owen calls out the arrogance of
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thinking one knows enough or has fully comprehended the whole
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body of divinity. He frames the Scripture as a
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treasury of divine truths, absolutely unfathomable by any
25:49
created understanding. You are never going to reach the
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bottom of it. He references the prophet Hosea.
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Then should we know if we follow on to know the Lord and Proverbs
25:59
chapter 2 which talks about crying after knowledge and
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searching for it as hidden treasures?
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There must be a continual pressing forward.
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Every new beam of truth guides the mind into fresh discoveries.
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But this raises a very practical issue.
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What is that? Everyday life is exhausting.
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People have jobs, mortgages, families, and overwhelming
26:18
responsibilities. How does a regular person
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maintain this continual hunger to press on for new beams of
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truth without burning out? It sounds like an exhausting,
26:27
never ending academic and spiritual treadmill.
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That is a very fair question. Owen's answer is that the
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motivation itself prevents the burnout.
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He points to living in a holy admiration of God as the first
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infinite essential truth. OK, unpack that.
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When you study this way, using your intellect, praying
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fervently, and obeying practically, you actually find
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the fruit and benefit of the truths you receive.
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They strengthen your life. They conform your soul.
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They communicate light, grace and vigor.
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So the joy of the result fuels the continuation of the effort.
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Yes, that actual experience of grace fuels the continual study.
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Naturally, it replaces burnout with awe.
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You want to go back to the text because you have tasted its
27:10
efficacy. You're not just studying for a
27:12
test. You are interacting with the
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living God. He also briefly mentions a final
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spiritual means and attendance to the ordinances of spiritual
27:20
worship, gathering with a congregation, partaking in the
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sacraments, hearing the word preached.
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These communal acts of worship are ordained by God as a means
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of our illumination. You do not do this entirely in
27:31
isolation in your bedroom. Now, having laid out this highly
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spiritualized method of reading, where prayer, heart posture, and
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obedience are just as vital as parsing Greek verbs, Owen has to
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address the critics of his era, and he does so quite
27:44
aggressively. He anticipates the logical
27:46
objections from the more rationalist wings of society.
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There are critics who accuse his methods of decrying learning.
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They say that bringing so much prayer and reliance on the Holy
27:55
Spirit into the interpretive process reduces religion to
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enthusiasm. We need to define enthusiasm
28:02
carefully here. Yeah, because to a modern
28:03
listener, enthusiasm just means excitement.
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You are enthusiastic about a sports team.
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But in the 17th century, enthusiasm was a highly
28:12
derogatory term. It referred to dangerous,
28:15
ungrounded, mystical fanaticism. It was associated with radical
28:20
sex, like early Quakers or radical Anabaptists.
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Groups who claim to receive direct inner revelations from
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God that superseded the written text of the Bible.
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Right. The critics are accusing Owen of
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telling people to close their books, ignore logic, close their
28:35
eyes and wait for a mystical, subjective feeling to tell them
28:38
what God thinks. And Owen fiercely denies this.
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He states very clearly that he does not decline reason in its
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proper place. I mean, he spent the entire
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first section of his argument demanding that readers observe
28:48
antecedents, consequence, tropes, and historical seasons.
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He is the exact opposite of anti intellectual totally.
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However, he insists that investigating divine truths
28:59
using solely secular methods excludes God, Christ and the
29:04
Holy Spirit, and to exclude the author from the interpretation
29:08
of his own book overthrows Christianity entirely.
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You cannot read a divine book using entirely secular metrics
29:15
and expect to arrive at divine truth.
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But this raises a classic skeptic's dilemma.
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Let's run a hypothetical scenario.
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OK, let's hear it. You have two separate readers.
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They both use the intellectual tools Florida State.
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They both analyze the historical context, the grammar, the
29:29
original languages. Furthermore, they both pray
29:32
fervently for the Holy Spirit to guide them, casting out their
29:35
prejudices. Both doing the full work.
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Right, and they both strive to live obedient, godly lives, yet
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they arrive at completely contradicting interpretations of
29:44
a specific text. Doesn't that prove Owen's method
29:47
of relying on the Spirit is flawed?
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If the Spirit is guiding them both, why do they disagree?
29:52
It is the ultimate pushback, and Owen dissects this exact issue.
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His answer is pretty sobering. He argues that God is never
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wanting and revealing Himself to those who diligently seek Him.
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So what goes wrong? If someone miscarries in their
30:05
search for truth, Owen says, it is far more safe to judge that
30:08
they failed due to a neglect of duty or an indulgence of some
30:12
corruption in their own heart. So he is saying the flaw is
30:16
never with the spirit, the flaw is always with the reader.
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Yes, the mechanism of human self deception is incredibly subtle.
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One of those two readers, or perhaps both of them, has some
30:27
unexamined prejudice. They have some old leaven they
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subconsciously refuse to cast out.
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Or there is some subtle rebellion in their practical
30:35
obedience that is clouding their vision.
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Exactly. This goes back to the noetic
30:39
effects of the fall. Our brains are so good at hiding
30:42
our own biases from us that we can think we are being perfectly
30:46
objective while we are actively twisting the text to suit our
30:48
preferences. Owen breaks down the unfailing
30:51
grounds of assurance to explain this.
30:53
He notes that faith, exercise, and prayer works out the
30:56
filthiness that hinders our reception of the Word.
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It produces the humility and meekness required for God's
31:01
teaching. And he adds a massive caveat.
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If we deceive not ourselves, we cannot be deceived.
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If we deceive not ourselves, that is a terrifying phrase
31:10
because self deception is the one thing you never know you are
31:14
doing. But he remains confident that
31:16
the Spirit will preserve the diligent, humble suppliant from
31:19
any pernicious error or ignorance of any fundamental
31:21
truth. You might still have minor
31:24
disagreements on highly obscure texts.
31:26
Like the exact timeline of a prophecy, or there's a specific
31:29
historical referent of a minor metaphor.
31:31
Right, but the saving knowledge of the mind of God, the core
31:34
doctrines required for salvation and godly living will be firmly
31:39
secured. So let's pull all of this
31:40
together. The core of John Owen's method
31:43
is an inseparable Marriage is the marriage of rigorous, sedate
31:48
intellectual study using every disciplinary tool available to
31:51
examine the grammar, logic, and history of the text with an
31:55
absolute, humble reliance on God through prayer and a readiness
31:59
to obey. You absolutely cannot have one
32:00
without the other. Intellect without prayer leads
32:02
to dead religion and arrogant rationalism.
32:05
Prayer without intellect leads to ungrounded fanaticism and
32:08
subjectivism. Owen's method demands the
32:11
entirety of the person. Your mind must be rigorously
32:14
engaged, your heart must be pliable, and your life must be
32:17
obedient. We started today by talking
32:20
about how fighting the meaning of a text isn't like looking at
32:23
a clean X-ray. It's murky because our minds are
32:26
murky. But Owen has given us the tools
32:28
to clear the water. He has shown us how to put on
32:31
the reading glasses of intellectual study and how to
32:33
pray to turn on the light in the darkroom.
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And if you bring that posture to the Scripture, Owen assures you
32:40
that the inexhaustible stores of truth laid up within it will be
32:44
open to you. It is a lifelong pursuit, but it
32:47
is one guaranteed by the author of the text himself.
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I want to leave you with a final, lingering question to
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Mull over as you go about your day.
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Think about the laboratory of obedience.
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If, as Owen forcefully argues, our actual understanding of the
33:00
text is directly tied to our practical obedience, what
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massive, undiscovered truths might be waiting for you on the
33:06
other side of your next act of faithful compliance?
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Thank you for taking this deep dive with us on Reformed
33:11
Thinking.