It has been almost two weeks since my last post but ironically this blog has had more activity than at any other time in its two-year existence. Maybe I should take a blogging break more often.
For the past several months I have been slowly making my way through John Owen’s On the Mortification of Sin as part of my Sabbath reading. Yesterday I finished this work, and found it to be a manual for spiritual diagnosis and surgery! Owen had amazing insight into the human condition and applying the riches of Christ to the life of broken, sinful people like myself.
In a late chapter entitled “Humility,” Owen wrote the following paragraph concerning the end of knowledge:
The difference between believers and unbelievers as to knowledge is not so much in the matter of their knowledge, as in the manner of their knowing. Unbelievers, some of them, may know more and be able to say more of God, His perfections, and His will, than many believers; but they do not know God as they should. They do not know in the right manner; their knowledge is not spiritual and saving, and it does not have a heavenly light.
Owen here is contrasting intellectual knowledge of theology with experiential “knowing” of God Himself. In his mind, the latter is “the right manner,” and anything else falls short of God’s design for humanity. Unbelievers may have a knowledge of the Bible and theology which surpasses many believers (i.e. theologically liberal scholars), but they ultimately miss the point, which is belief and the salvation of their souls.
Turning to the knowledge of believers, Owen remarks:
The excellence of a believer is not that he has a large apprehension of things, but that what he does understand, which may be very little, he sees in the light of the Spirit of God. He has a saving, soul-transforming light. This is what gives us communion with God. (emphasis mine)
In other words, the knowledge of the believer is centered not on quantity, but on quality. Lest someone accuse Owen of anti-intellectualism, know that Owen was the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and was a man who reportedly dreamed in Latin! Owen’s point is not that Christians may get away with knowing “just the basics,” but that a believer who is a high-school dropout knows far more of God than the Ivy League-educated liberal religious scholar. What a profound statement to make!
Source: John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 1656 (Reprint, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2004), 98.
Drew,
I think this is a great reminder for all of us who are seeking theological education. Often, I find myself comparing what I know to others. Thankfully, I have been blessed with an excellence education. This, however, is both a blessing and a curse of sorts. It is blessing because I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of the One, the Supreme Being of the universe, which is of course awe-inspiring. On the other hand, it is a curse because I am often tempted to look down on others for their lack of knowledge. I have frequently found myself as hypercritical and puffed up. So, thanks for reminding me the reason I need to have knowledge.
That should be excellent…some education,huh?