An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, vol. 2
Overview
Volume Two continues Owen’s Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews. He writes at length about the connection between the person of Christ and the office of the priesthood, with careful attention to the relationship of the priesthood to both sin and grace. The final exercitation is devoted to the Sabbath. Owen recounts the origin of the Sabbath and the nature of Old Testament Sabbath observance, before contrasting it with the New Testament definition of the Sabbath—the “Lord’s Day.” He concludes with practical observations on observing the Lord’s Day. The second half of Volume Two summarizes and extracts the central themes from Owen’s verse-by-verse in the remaining volumes.
Praise for the Print Edition
This greatest work of John Owen is a work of gigantic strength as well as gigantic size; and he who has mastered it is very little short…of being an erudite and accomplished theologian.
—Thomas Chalmers
For solidity, profundity, massiveness and majesty in exhibiting from Scripture God’s ways with sinful mankind there is no one to touch him.
—J. I. Packer
". . . the greatest theologian who has ever written in the English language.
—Roger Nicole
Product Details
- Title: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, vol. 2
- Author: Jane Williams
- Publisher: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
- Publication Date: 2009
- Pages: 546
About John Owen
John Owen was born at Stadhampton, Oxfordshire in 1616. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, at the age of twelve and completed his M.A. in classics and theology in 1635 at the age of nineteen. He was ordained shortly thereafter and left the university to be a chaplain to the family of a noble lord. His first parish, in 1637, was at Fordham in Essex, to which he went while England was involved in civil war. It was here that he became convinced that the Congregational way was the scriptural form of church government. In the 1640s he became chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, the new "Protector of England," and traveled with him on his expeditions to Ireland and Scotland. Between 1651 and 1660, he played a prominent part in the religious, political, and academic life of the nation. In 1651 he was appointed dean of Christ Church and in 1652 made Vice-Chancellor of Oxford—positions which allowed him to train ministers for the Cromwellian state church. He lost his position in 1660, however, when the restoration of the monarchy began after the death of Cromwell in 1658. Owen moved to London and led the Puritans through the bitter years of religious and political persecution—experiences which shaped his theological inquiry, pastoral reflection, and preaching. He later declined not only invitations to the ministry in Boston in 1663, but also an offer to become president of Harvard in 1670. He died in August, 1683.
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Top Highlights
“There are two great concerns of that religion whose name thou bearest,—the profession of its truth, and the practice or exercise of its power. And these are mutually assistant unto each other. Without the profession of faith in its truth, no man can express its power in obedience; and without obedience profession is little worth. Whatever, therefore, doth contribute help and assistance unto us in either of these, according to the mind of God, is to be highly prized and valued.” (Page 263)
“And these were carried on ‘per modum fœderis,’ ‘by way of covenant,’ compact, and mutual agreement, between the Father and the Son; for although it should seem that because they are single acts of the same divine understanding and will, they cannot be properly federal, yet because those properties of the divine nature are acted distinctly in the distinct persons, they have in them the nature of a covenant.” (Page 77)
“the eternal rectitude of God’s nature acting righteously in their execution or accomplishment is his truth” (Page 102)
“but as the rule of his government and the order of things in the universe” (Page 105)
“The truths of God and the holiness of his precepts must be pleaded and defended, though the world dislike them here and perish hereafter. His law must not be made to lackey after the wills of men, nor be dissolved by vain interpretations, because they complain they cannot, indeed because they will not, comply with it. Our Lord Jesus Christ came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them, and to supply men with spiritual strength to fulfil them also. It is evil to break the least commandment; but there is a great aggravation of that evil in them that shall teach men so to do.” (Page 440)
- Title: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Volume 2
- Author: John Owen
- Series: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Owen)
- Volume: 19
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Print Publication Date: 1862
- Logos Release Date: 2009
- Era: era:reformation
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Theology › Early works to 1800; Puritans; Bible. N.T. Hebrews › Commentaries
- Resource ID: LLS:WORKSOWEN19
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T07:37:00Z
John Owen (1616–1683) is considered one of the most influential and inspiring theologians of the seventeenth century. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, at the age of twelve and completed his M.A. in classics and theology at the age of nineteen.
His first parish was at Fordham in Essex where he became convinced that the Congregational polity was the scriptural form of church government. In the 1640s he became chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, the new "Protector of England," and traveled with him on his expeditions to Ireland and Scotland.
In 1651 he was appointed dean of Christ Church and in 1652 made Vice-Chancellor of Oxford—positions which allowed him to train ministers for the Cromwellian state church. Owen later moved to London and led the Puritans through the bitter years of religious and political persecution—experiences which shaped his theological inquiry, pastoral reflection, and preaching. Owen authored one of the richest commentaries on the book of Hebrews, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews which are also included in The Works of John Owen along with sermons and essays.