The Glory of Christ (John Owen) (#22)

The Glory of Christ

In The Glory of Christ, here abridged and made easy to read, we have the great Puritan pastor and theologian John Owen at his richest and most mature. Here he writes about Jesus Christ, the heart of the gospel. Owen himself tells us that the substance of the work began in his own private meditation and study and only later was shared with his congregation. Here, then, is a master theologian writing about the things, or better, the person, nearest to his heart.

The work itself was composed almost at the end of Owen’s life and first published in 1684, the year after his death. Indeed, the material in chapters fifteen to seventeen of this abridgement appeared for the first time in the second edition of 1696, having been found among Owen’s papers only after his death but clearly intended as the closing section of the work.

First printed shortly before Owen’s death

On the day of Owen’s death (24 August 1683) William Payne, a minister in Saffron Walden who had accepted responsibility for seeing the manuscript of this work through to publication, visited him in Ealing (now part of London) to share the good news that Meditations on the Glory of Christ was now going through the press. Owen’s biographers record his memorable and beautiful reply:

I am glad to hear it; but, O brother Payne! the long-wished-for day is come at last, in which I shall see that glory in another manner than I have ever done, or was capable of doing in this world.

It is clear from these pages that Owen had already seen the glory of Christ from afar and pondered long on its significance. His teaching is well-suited to bring us to share in his longing to know Christ better, to see his glory more clearly and to serve him more faithfully. Here is a book we hope that many readers will freshly discover as one of the hidden treasures of Christian literature. May we return to it again and again for instruction and spiritual refreshment.

Contents

1. Seeing Christ’s Glory
2. Christ’s Glory as God’s Representative
3. The Glory of Christ in His Person
4. The Glory of Christ’s Humbling Himself
5. Christ’s Love as Mediator
6. His Work as Mediator
7. Christ’s Exaltation
8. The Glory of Christ under the Old Testament
9. Union with the Church
10. Giving Himself to Believers
11. Restoring All Things
12. The First Difference between Beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith and by Sight
13. The Second Difference between Beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith and by Sight
14. Third Difference between Beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith and by Sight
15. Exhortation to Unbelievers
16. How to Recognize Spiritual Decay in the Soul
17. How the Soul may be Recovered from Spiritual Decays