John Owen and Justin Taylor
Dec. 11 2006We asked Justin Taylor some questions about Overcoming Sin and Temptation, a new version of John Owen’s classic Sin and Temptation, which he edited along with Kelly Kapic. Justin is currently the ESV Bible Project Manager at Crossway and writes the blog Between Two Worlds.
1. Can you give us a ten second introduction to John Owen? Who was he?
Owen was born in 1616. (For historical context, that’s five years after the King James Version was translated; the same year that Shakespeare died; and four years before Plymouth Colony was founded.) From an achievement-success standpoint, the guy had it all and did it all: he started his studies at Oxford when he was 12, and later became a successful chaplain, preacher, author, college dean and chancellor, etc. But the most important thing about him was that he loved the Triune God and gave all of his life to communing with God, killing sin, and seeking to help others do the same.
There so many details that could be given about Owen’s life and theology. Let me just share three quotes with you, because I think they help to get a window into his soul.
First, he once put in writing his mission statement (as we would call it):
“I hope I may own in sincerity that my heart’s desire unto God, and the chief design of my life…are, that mortification and universal holiness may be promoted in my own and in the hearts and ways of others, to the glory of God, that so the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be adorned in all things.”
Second, he was friends with John Bunyan. In fact, he was probably one of the first people to read Pilgrim’s Progress and was instrumental in getting it published. King Charles II once asked Owen why he—an educated Oxford don—wasted his time hanging out with an uneducated tinker (metalworker) like Bunyan. Owen’s response: “Could I posses the tinker’s abilities for preaching, please your majesty, I would gladly relinquish all my learning.”
Finally, when Owen was dying he was finishing a book called The Glory of Christ. As he was on his deathbed, his editor William Payne visited him to give him an update on the book. Owen replied: “O, brother Payne, the long-wished for day is come at last, in which I shall see the glory in
another manner than I have ever done or was capable of doing in this world.”
Owen is widely considered the greatest Puritan and the best English-speaking theologian. But these brief snapshots give us a look at the man behind the theologian.
2. Why a new edition of Owen’s work? What provoked you to work on this project?
Let me start with the second question first. When I did an apprenticeship at Bethlehem Baptist Church from 1998-2000, my part-time job was as a janitor at the church. I’d listen to Piper tapes while I cleaned the church. One of the tapes that especially gripped me was his biographical sketch of Owen (which you can read or listen to online here and here. When Piper said that folks like J. I. Packer, Roger Nicole, and Sinclair Ferguson all regard Owen to be the greatest theologian of all time (Piper would put him second behind Edwards!), I knew I had to get to know this guy. I owned his Works, and started reading vol. 6 (on sin and temptation). I enjoyed what I read, but found it tough sledding and soon gave up. What I started to do, however, was to retype the outline of the book onto my computer so that it would be clearer and so that I could see the big picture. That, I suppose, was the real beginning of the project. It didn’t start with wanting to serve the church, but rather just to serve myself! A few years later I became more excited about the idea of producing and publishing an edition of all three works, doing for readers what I wished someone had done for me! In the Lord’s providence, Kelly Kapic was able to come alongside me as a co-editor. (Kelly teaches at Covenant College and did his PhD work at King’s College in London, writing on Owen’s Communion with God—a landmark work that will be published this spring by Baker Academic.)
Why do we need a new edition? First, I should express how thankful I am for the editions that are already out there. Banner of Truth publishes the original. (Have you ever stopped to give thanks to God for Banner of Truth? What an incredible gift to the church!) Their edition, though, is reproduced from the 1850s, which makes it difficult to read, without any helps like a glossary, headings, outlines, indexes, etc. Other versions of the book (like those done by James Houston or Kris Lundgaard) are really helpful, but they cut a lot out. So we wanted to produce a version that was unabridged, accurate, and accessible.
3. The Puritans often spoke of “mortifying” sin. Can you tell us what that means and why it’s important in the Christian life?
One of Owen’s most famous lines is “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Mortification is killing sin--putting it to death. Owen’s fuller definition is that mortification is a habitual, successful weakening of sin that involves constant warfare and contention against the flesh. So it must be habitual and constant--not once in a while. It must be successful--not a total failure. It must weaken sin--though it will never eliminate it completely. It’s all-all war against everything that competes against God in our heart and mind.
No go back to the line “be killing sin or it will be killing you"--that’s the answer to why it’s important in the Christian life. Sin stands in the way of God. When we have unmortified sin we can’t be who we were designed to be (holy and conformed to the image of Christ), see whom we are designed to see (the glory of God in Christ), or do what we are designed to do (live lives of Spirit-filled worship in accordance with God’s Word). So we must fight the fight.
4. In the preface John Owen warns against those that, “have anew imposed the yoke of a self- wrought-out mortification on the necks of their disciples.” Statements like that might surprise people thinking that Owen’s encouragements to mortify sin can tend to legalism. What did Owen really think about legalism and God’s grace?
In these books Owen is at war, battling for truth and against error. On the one side there were the legalists--who were seeking to persuade people in the church that law was to function in the place of the gospel. On the other side were the antimonians--who were seeking to persuade people in the church that liberty was to function in the place of the gospel. But because Owen was a Bible man, he was a gospel man, and he knew from Scripture that the gospel must be absolutely central--not only in becoming a Christian, but in remaining a believer and being conformed to the image of Christ. Law and liberty are both essential aspects of the Christian life, but neither can replace the gospel itself. Owen calls us to be God-glorifying, gospel-saturated, Spirit-filled, battle-ready followers of Christ who would accept no substitutes.
5. Any particular “can’t miss” sections of the work you want to point out?
Tough question! First, I’d point out that The Mortification of Sin--his most popular and practical book--is less than 100 pages in our book. So that’s where I’d start. One idea would be to read through the whole thing once, following the outline, and getting the big picture--then go back and read it slowly, meditatively, taking notes, and praying.
One passage in particular that I would commend to your readers is found on p. 332. It’s a beautiful, stirring, scriptural call to look to the cross.
I also think your readers will especially benefit from chapter 9 and following in Mortification. By this point in the book Owen has told us why mortification is necessary, how it is defined, and the general directions for doing it. Then starting in chapter 9 he moves to the particulars, and I think his discussion is especially helpful.
Overcoming Sin and Temptation is a new version of John Owen’s classic Sin and Temptation, which Justin edited along with Kelly Kapic. You can buy the book directly from the publisher or from Amazon.com.
Justin is currently the ESV Bible Project Manager at Crossway and writes the blog Between Two Worlds.