M.TH. LONG DISSERTATION (LD6.1) - John Owen

John Owen’s Theological Context
Christ; thus, the right to justification would be made out to the elect only on the death of
Christ. 172
However, although Owen has ruled out eternal justification, as yet there remains
the possibility of justification prior to faith, more particularly, justification from the time
of Christ’s satisfaction, especially when one remembers Owen’s Justification by Faith
regarding the imputation of believers’ sin to Christ. Christ suffered in the place of the
elect, that is, ‘in his suffering he bare the person of the church…Christ and believers are
one mystical person, one spiritually-animated body, head and members. Hence, what he
did and suffered is imputed unto them.’ 173 As we saw, the principal ground of
imputation is union with Christ; the foundation for the justice of penal substitution is
that Christ and his Church are one mystical person. Hence, what is true of Christ, the
Head, is true also of his body; thus the church suffered in him when he suffered for the
church. However, as we noted, it therefore appears that mystical union functions in a
parallel way for the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to sinners when they are
justified and the imputation of their sins to him when he made atonement.
This parallel imputation on the basis of the same union appears to leave open
the door for justification from the moment Christ made atonement, that is, justification
prior to faith. Nevertheless, Owen insists that one must not ‘assent to one part of the
gospel unto the exclusion of another’, 174 and God’s design in the covenant is that
Christ’s righteousness be communicated to the elect by faith. 175 Faith thus comes
prior to justification.
172 Owen 1850-55: X.457.
173 Owen 1850-55: V.214.
174 Owen 1850-55: V.214, also 216.
175 Owen 1850-55: V. 214f.
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