M.TH. LONG DISSERTATION (LD6.1) - John Owen
M.TH. LONG DISSERTATION (LD6.1) - John Owen
M.TH. LONG DISSERTATION (LD6.1) - John Owen
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<strong>John</strong> <strong>Owen</strong>’s Theological Context<br />
pactum salutis (elect decretally united to Christ)<br />
satisfaction ius ad rem<br />
Christ imputed / forensic union<br />
faith ius in re<br />
mystical union with Christ<br />
For <strong>Owen</strong>, the elect are decretally united to Christ in the pactum salutis, which<br />
provides the foundation both for Christ’s satisfaction, and for the imputation of Christ to<br />
the sinner, but does not yet provide a ius ad rem. 213 At the time of Christ’s satisfaction,<br />
God acts on the basis of the decretal union and imputes the sins of the elect to Christ.<br />
This grants the ius ad rem. At a later point in time, at the moment of justification, God<br />
imputes Christ to the elect sinner in a forensic union, on the basis of which, God grants<br />
the sinner faith. Then, through this faith, the believer is mystically united to Christ. In this<br />
second diagram, the solid arrows indicate stages that are separated by time, whilst the<br />
broken arrows indicate stages that are related in a linear logical sequence, but which<br />
occur at the same point in time. Therefore, contra Boersma, <strong>Owen</strong> does successfully<br />
distinguish the ius ad rem from the ius in re. Although the ius in re is comprised of a logical<br />
sequence of stages, temporally, it is one event. The climax of this sequence is mystical<br />
union with Christ, and, as in Reformed Orthodoxy more generally, full justification<br />
follows and is grounded upon the union, which itself is received by faith.<br />
213 Cf. p. 36, above.<br />
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