John Owen · 39 of 123

Chapter V. The filth of sin purged by the Spirit and the blood of Christ. · Part 1

Thirdly, The purging of the souls of them that believe from the defilements of sin is, in the Scripture, assigned unto several causes of different kinds; for the Holy Spirit, the blood of Christ, faith, and afflictions, are all said to cleanse us from our sins, but in several ways, and with distinct kinds of efficacy. The Holy Spirit is said to do it as the principal efficient cause; the blood of Christ as the meritorious procuring cause; faith and affliction as the instrumental causes, — the one direct and internal, the other external and occasional.

I. That we are purged and purified from sin by the Spirit of God communicated unto us hath been before in general confirmed by many testimonies of the holy Scriptures. And we may gather, also, from what hath been spoken, wherein this work of his doth consist; for, —

1. Whereas the spring and fountain of all the pollution of sin lies in the depravation of the faculties of our natures, which ensued on the loss of the image of God, he renews them again by his grace, Tit. iii. 5. Our want of due answering unto the holiness of God, as represented in the law, and exemplified in our hearts originally, is a principal part and universal cause of our whole pollution and defilement by sin; for when our eyes are opened to discern it, this is that which in the first place filleth us with shame and self-abhorrency, and that which makes us so unacceptable, yea, so loathsome to God. Who is there who considereth aright the vanity, darkness, and ignorance of his mind, the perverseness and stubbornness of his will, with the disorder, irregularity, and distemper of his affections, with respect unto things spiritual and heavenly, who is not ashamed of, who doth not abhor himself? This is that which hath given our nature its leprosy, and defiled it throughout. And I shall crave leave to say, that he who hath no experience of spiritual shame and self-abhorrency, upon the account of this inconformity of his nature and the faculties of his soul unto the holiness of God, is a great stranger unto this whole work of sanctification. Who is there that can recount the unsteadiness of his mind in holy meditation, his low and unbecoming conceptions of God’s excellencies, his proneness to foolish imaginations and vanities that profit not, his aversion to spirituality in duty and fixedness in communion with God, his proneness to things sensual and evil, all arising from the spiritual irregularity of divine purity and holiness, is sensible of his own vileness and baseness, and is ofttimes deeply affected with shame thereon? Now, this whole evil frame is cured by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost in the rectifying and renovation of our natures. He giveth a new understanding, a new heart, new affections, renewing the whole soul into the image of God, Eph. iv. 23, 24; Col. iii. 10. The way whereby he doth this hath been before so fully declared, in our opening of the doctrine of regeneration, that it need not be here repeated. Indeed, our original cleansing is therein, where mention is made of the “washing of regeneration,” Tit. iii. 5. Therein is the image of God restored unto our souls. But we consider the same work now as it is the cause of our holiness. Look, then, how far our minds, our hearts, our affections, are renewed by the Holy Ghost, so far are we cleansed from our spiritual habitual pollution. Would we be cleansed from our sins, — that which is so frequently promised that we shall be, and so frequently prescribed as our duty to be, and without which we neither have not can have any thing of true holiness in us, — we must labour after and endeavour to grow in this renovation of our natures by the Holy Ghost. The more we have of saving light in our minds, of heavenly love in our wills and affections, of a constant readiness unto obedience in our hearts, the more pure are we, the more cleansed from the pollution of sin. The old principle of corrupted nature is unclean and defiling, shameful and loathsome; the new creature, the principal of grace implanted in the whole soul by the Holy Ghost, is pure and purifying, clean and holy.

2. The Holy Ghost doth purify and cleanse us by strengthening our souls by his grace unto all holy duties and against all actual sins. It is by actual sins that our natural and habitual pollution is increased. Hereby some make themselves base and vile as hell. But this also is prevented by the gracious actings of the Spirit. Having given us a principle of purity and holiness, he so acts it in duties of obedience and in opposition unto sin as that he preserves the soul free from defilements, or pure and holy, according to the tenor of the new covenant; that is, in such measure and to such a degree as universal sincerity doth require. But it may be yet said that indeed hereby he makes us pure, and prevents many future defilements, yet how is the soul freed from those it hath contracted before this work upon it, or those which it may and doth unavoidably afterward fall into; for as there is no man that doeth good and sinneth not, so there is none who is not more or less defiled with sin whilst he is in the body here in this world? The apostle answereth this objection or inquiry, 1 John i. 7–9, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But if sin be in us we are defiled, and how shall we be cleansed? “God is just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But how may this be done, by what means may it be accomplished? “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

II. It is, therefore, the blood of Christ, in the second place, which is the meritorious procuring, and so the effective cause, that immediately purgeth us from our sins, by an especial application of it unto our souls by the Holy Ghost. And there is not any truth belonging unto the mystery of the gospel which is more plainly and evidently asserted, as hath in part been made to appear before: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John i. 7; “He hath washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Rev. i. 5; “The blood of Christ purgeth our conscience from dead works, that we may serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14; “He gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it,” Eph. v. 25, 26; to “purify to himself a peculiar people,” Tit. ii. 14. Besides, whatever is spoken in the whole Scripture concerning purifying the unclean, the leprous, the defiled, by sacrifices or other instruments of the Old Testament, it is all instructive in and directive unto the purifying nature of the blood of Christ, from whence alone these institutions had their efficacy; and the virtue of it is promised under that notion, Zech. xiii. 1. And this the faith and experience of all believers doth confirm; for they are no imaginations of their own, but what, being built on the truth and promises of God, yield sensible [felt] spiritual relief and refreshment unto their souls. This they believe, this they pray for, and find the fruits and effects of it in themselves. It may be some of them do not, it may be few of them do, comprehend distinctly the way whereby and the manner how the blood of Christ, so long since shed and offered, should cleanse them now from their sins; but the thing itself they do believe as it is revealed, and find the use of it in all wherein they have to do with God. And I must say (let profane and ignorant persons, whilst they please, deride what they understand not, not are able to disprove) that the Holy Spirit of God, which leadeth believers in to all truth, and enableth them to pray according to the mind and will of God, doth guide them, in and by the working and experience of faith, to pray for those things the depths of whose mysteries they cannot comprehend. And he who well studieth the things which he is taught of the Spirit to ask of God, will find a door opened to much spiritual wisdom and knowledge; for (let the world rage on) in those prayers which believers are taught and enabled unto by the Holy Ghost helping of them as a Spirit of supplication, there are two things inexpressible:— First, the inward labouring and spiritual working of the sanctified heart and affections towards God; wherein consist those “groanings that cannot be uttered,” Rom. viii. 26. God alone sees, and knows, and understands the fervent workings of the new creature, when acted by the Holy Ghost in supplications; and so it is added in the next words, verse 27, “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth” τί τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ Πνεύματος, “what is the meaning of the Spirit,” what it favours and inclines unto. It is not any distinct or separate acting of the Spirit by himself that is intended, but what and how he works in the hearts of believers as he is a Spirit of grace and supplication; and this is known only unto him who is the Searcher of hearts, and as he is so. And he knoweth what is the bent, frame, inclination, and acting of the inward man in prayer, from the power of the Spirit; which they themselves in whom they are wrought do not fathom or reach the depth of. This he doth in the subject of prayer, the hearts and minds of believers; the effects of his operation in them are inexpressible. Secondly, As to the object of prayer, or things prayed for, he doth in and by the word so represent and exhibit the truth, reality, subsistence, power, and efficacy of spiritual, mysterious things, unto the faith and affectations of believers, that they have a real and experimental sense of, do mix faith with, and are affected by, those things now made nigh, now realized unto them, which, it may be, they are not able doctrinally and distinctly to explain in their proper notions. And thus do we ofttimes see men low and weak in their notional apprehension of things, yet in their prayers led into communion with God in the highest and holiest mysteries of his grace, having an experience of the life and power of the things themselves in their own hearts and souls; and hereby do their faith, love, affiance, and adherence unto God, act and exercise themselves. So it is with them in this matter of the actual present purifying of the pollutions of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, the way whereof we shall now briefly inquire into:—

1. Therefore, by the blood of Christ herein in intended the blood of his sacrifice, with the power, virtue, and efficacy thereof. And the blood of a sacrifice fell under a double consideration:— (1.) As it was offered unto God to make atonement and reconciliation; (2.) As it was sprinkled on other things for their purging and sanctification. Part of the blood in every propitiatory sacrifice was still to be sprinkled round about the altar, Lev. i. 11; and in the great sacrifice of expiation, some of the blood of the bullock was to be sprinkled before the mercy-seat seven times, chap. xvi. 14. This our apostle fully expresseth in a great and signal instance: Heb. ix. 19, 20, 22, “When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. … And almost all things are by the law purged with blood.” Wherefore, the blood of Christ, as it was the blood of his sacrifice, hath these two effects, and falls under this double consideration:— (1.) As he offered himself by the eternal Spirit unto God to make an atonement for sin, and procure eternal redemption; (2.) As it is sprinkled by the same Spirit on the consciences of believers, to purge them from dead works, as Heb. ix. 12–14. And hence it is called, with respect unto our sanctification, “The blood of sprinkling,” chap. xii. 24; for we have the “sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,” 1 Pet. i. 2.

2. The blood of Christ in his sacrifice is still always and continually in the same condition, of the same force and efficacy, as it was in that hour wherein it was shed. The blood of other sacrifices was always to be used immediately upon its effusion; for if it were cold and congealed it was of no use to be offered or to be sprinkled. Blood was appointed to make atonement, as the life or animal spirits were in it, Lev. xvii. 11. But the blood of the sacrifice of Christ is always hot and warm, having the same spirits of life and sanctification still moving in it. Hence the ζῶσα καὶ πρόσφατος, Heb. x. 20, — always living, and yet always as newly slain. Every one, therefore, who at any time hath an especial actual interest in the blood of Christ, as sacrificed, hath as real a purification from the defilement of sin as he had typically who stood by the priest and had blood or water sprinkled on him; for the Holy Ghost diligently declares that whatever was done legally, carnally, or typically, by any of the sacrifices of old at any time, as to the expiation or purification of sin, that was all done really and spiritually by that one sacrifice, — that is, the offering and sprinkling of the blood of Christ, — and abideth to be so done continually. To this purpose is the substance of our apostle’s discourse in the ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. And they had various sorts of sacrifices, wherein to this end the blood of them was sprinkled, they being propitiatory in their offering; as, — (1.) There was the תָּמִיד‎, or continual burnt-offering of a lamb or kid for the whole congregation, morning and evening, whose blood was sprinkled as at other times. And hereby the habitual purification of the congregation, that they might be holy to the Lord, and their cleansing from the daily incursions of secret and unknown sins, was signified and carried on. (2.) On the Sabbath-day this juge sacrificium was doubled morning and evening, denoting a peculiar and abounding communication of mercy and purging grace, through the administration of instituted ordinances, on that day. (3.) There was the great annual sacrifice at the feast of expiation, when, by the sacrifice of the sin-offering and the scape-goat, the whole congregation were purged from all their known and great sins, and recovered into a state of legal holiness; and other stated sacrifices there were. (4.) There were occasional sacrifices for every one, according as he found his condition to require; for those who were clean one day, yea, one hour, might by some miscarriage or surprisal be unclean the next. But there was a way continually ready for any man’s purification, by his bringing his offering unto that purpose. Now, the blood of Christ must continually, and upon all occasions, answer unto all these, and accomplish spiritually what they did legally effect and typically represent. This our apostle asserts and proves, Heb. ix. 9–14. Thereby is the gradual carrying on of our sanctification habitually effected, which was signified by the continual daily sacrifice. From thence is especial cleansing virtue communicated unto us by the ordinances of the gospel, as is expressly affirmed, Eph. v. 25, 26, denoted by the doubling of the daily sacrifice on the Sabbath. By it we are purged from all our sins whatever, great or small, as was typified in the great sacrifice on the day of expiation. And unto him have we continual recourse upon all occasions of our spiritual defilements whatever. So was his blood, as to its purifying virtue, to answer and accomplish all legal institutions. Especially it doth so that of the “ashes of the red heifer,” Num. xix., which was a standing ordinance, whereby every one who was any way defiled might immediately be cleansed; and he who would not make application thereunto was to be cut off from the people, verse 20. And it is no otherwise with respect unto the blood of Christ in our spiritual defilements; thence it is called “a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness,” Zech. xiii. 1. And he who neglects to make application thereunto shall perish in his uncleanness, and that eternally.

Farther to clear this whole matter, two things are to be inquired into:— (1.) How the blood of Christ doth thus cleanse us from our sins, or what it is that is done thereby. (2.) How we come to be made partakers of the benefit thereof, or come to be interested therein.

(1.) As to the first, it must be observed, what hath been declared before, that the uncleanness we treat of is not physical or corporeal, but moral and spiritual only. It is the inconformity of sin unto the holiness of God, as represented in the law, whence it is loathsome to God, and attended with shame in us. Now, wherever there is an interest obtained in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ, it doth (by the will, law, and appointment of God) do these two things:— [1.] It takes away all loathsomeness in the sight of God, not from sin in the abstract, but from the sinner, so that he shall be as one absolutely washed and purified before him. See Isa. i. 16–18; Ps. li. 7; Eph. v. 25–27. [2.] It taketh away shame out of the conscience, and gives the soul boldness in the presence of God, Heb. x. 19–22. When these things are done then is sin purged, our souls are cleansed.

(2.) It may be inquired how we are to apply ourselves unto the blood of Christ for our purification, or how we may come continually to partake of the virtue of it, as it is sprinkled unto that purpose. Now, because what we do herein is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, my principal design being to declare his work in our sanctification, I shall at once declare both his work and our duty in the following instances:—

[1.] It is he who discovereth unto us, and spiritually convinceth us of, the pollution of sin, and of our defilement thereby. Something, indeed, of this kind will be wrought by the power of natural conscience, awakened and excited by ordinary outward means of conviction; for wherever there is a sense of guilt, there will be some kind of sense of filth, as fear and shame are inseparable. But this sense alone will never guide us to the blood of Christ for cleansing. Such a sight and conviction of it as may fill us with self-abhorrency and abasement, as may cause us to loathe ourselves for the abomination that is in it, is required of us; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost, belonging to that peculiar conviction of sin which is from him alone, John xvi. 8. I mean that self-abhorrency, shame, and confusion of face, with respect unto the filth of sin, which is so often mentioned in the Scripture as a gracious duty; as nothing is a higher aggravation of sin than for men to carry themselves with a carnal boldness with God and in his worship, whilst they are unpurged from their defilements. In a sense hereof the publican stood afar off, as one ashamed and destitute of any confidence for a nearer approach. So the holy men of old professed to God that they blushed, and were ashamed to lift up their faces unto him. Without this preparation, whereby we come to know the plague of our own hearts, the infection of our leprosy, the defilement of our souls, we shall never make application unto the blood of Christ for cleansing in a due manner. This, therefore, in the first place, is required of us as the first part of our duty and first work of the Holy Ghost herein.

[2.] The Holy Ghost proposeth, declareth, and presents unto us the only true remedy, the only means of purification. “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, not cure you of your wound,” Hos. v. 13. When men begin to discern their defilements, they are apt to think of many ways for their purging. What false ways have been invented to this purpose hath been before declared. And every one is ready to find out a way of his own; every one will apply his own soap and his own nitre. Though the only fountain for cleansing be nigh unto us, yet we cannot see it until the Holy Ghost open our eyes, as he did the eyes of Hagar; he it is who shows it unto us and leads us unto it. This is an eminent part of his office and work. The principal end of his sending, and consequently of his whole work, was to glorify the Son; as the end and work of the Son was to glorify the Father. And the great way whereby he glorifieth Christ is by showing such things unto us, John xvi. 14. And without his discovery we can know nothing of Christ, not of the things of Christ; for he is not sent in vain, to show us the things that we can see of ourselves. And what is more so of Christ than his blood, and its efficacy for the purging of our sins? We never, therefore, discern it spiritually and in a due manner but by him. To have a true spiritual sense of the defilement of sin, and a gracious view of the cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ, is an eminent effect of the Spirit of grace. Something like it there may be in the workings of an awakened natural conscience, with some beams of outward gospel light falling on it; but there is nothing in it of the work of the Spirit. This, therefore, secondly, we must endeavour after, if we intend to be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

[3.] It is he who worketh faith in us, whereby we are actually interested in the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ. By faith we receive Christ himself, and by faith do we receive all the benefits of his mediation, — that is, as they are tendered unto us in the promises of God. He is our propitiation through faith in his blood as offered; and he is our sanctification through faith in his blood as sprinkled. And particular acting of faith on the blood of Christ for the cleansing of the soul from sin is required of us. A renewed conscience is sensible of a pollution in every sin, and is not freed from the shame of it without a particular application unto the blood of Christ. It comes by faith to the fountain set open for sin and uncleanness, as the sick man to the pool of healing waters, and waiteth for a season to be cleansed in it. So David, on the defilement he had contracted by his great sins, addresseth himself unto God with that prayer, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow,” Ps. li. 7. He alludeth unto the purging of leprous persons, the ordinance whereof is instituted, Lev. xiv. 2–7, or to that more general institution for the purification of all legal uncleanness by the water of separation, made of the ashes of the red heifer, Num. xix. 4–6, which our apostle hath respect unto, Heb. ix. 13, 14; for both these purifications were made by the sprinkling of blood or water with hyssop. It is plain, I say, that he alludeth unto these institutions; but it is as plain they are not the things which he intendeth: for there was not in the law any purging by hyssop for persons guilty of such sins as he lay under; and therefore he professeth, in the close of the psalm, that “sacrifice and burnt-offering God would not accept” in his case, Ps. li. 16. It was, therefore, that which was signified by those institutions which he made his application unto, — namely, really to the blood of Christ, by which he might be “justified from all things, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses,” Acts xiii. 39; and so likewise purified. In like manner do all believers make an actual application unto the blood of Christ for the purging away of their sins; which until it is done they have a “conscience of sins,” — that is, condemning them for sin, and filling them with shame and fear, Heb. x. 1–3.

And this actual application by faith unto the blood of Christ for cleansing, the mystery whereof is scorned by many as a thing fanatical and unintelligible, consists in these four things:— 1st. A spiritual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ in his sacrifice, as proposed in the promises of the gospel for our cleansing and purification. “Look unto me,” saith he, “and be ye saved,” Isa. xlv. 22; which respects the whole work of our salvation, and all the means thereof. Our way of coming into our interest therein is by looking to him, — namely, as he is proposed unto us in the promise of the gospel: for as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so was he in his sacrifice on the cross lifted up, John iii. 14; and so in the gospel is he represented unto us, Gal. iii. 1. And the means whereby they were healed in the wilderness was by looking unto the serpent that was lifted up. Herein, then, doth faith first act itself, by a spiritual view and due consideration of the blood of Christ, as proposed unto us in the gospel for the only means of our purification; and the more we abide in this contemplation, the more effectual will our success be in our application thereto. 2dly. Faith actually relieth on his blood for the real effecting of that great work and end for which it is proposed unto us; for God sets him forth as to be a propitiation through faith in his blood as offered, Rom. iii. 25, so to be our sanctification through faith in his blood as sprinkled. And the establishing of this especial faith in our souls is that which the apostle aims at in his excellent reasoning, Heb. ix. 13, 14; and his conclusion unto that purpose is so evident, that he encourageth us thereon to draw nigh in the full assurance of faith, chap. x. 22. 3dly. Faith worketh herein by fervent prayer, as it doth in its whole address unto God with respect unto his promises; because for all these things God will be sought unto by the house of Israel. By this means the soul brings itself nigh unto its own mercy. And this we are directed unto, Heb. iv. 15, 16. 4thly. An acquiescency in the truth and faithfulness of God for cleansing by the blood of Christ, whence we are freed from discouraging, perplexing shame, and have boldness in the presence of God.

[4.] The Holy Ghost actually communicates the cleansing, purifying virtue of the blood of Christ unto our souls and consciences, whereby we are freed from shame, and have boldness towards God; for the whole work of the application of the benefits of the mediation of Christ unto believers is his properly.

And these are the things which believers aim at and intend in all their fervent supplications for the purifying and cleansing of their souls by the sprinkling and washing of the blood of Christ, the faith and persuasion whereof give them peace and holy boldness in the presence of God, without which they can have nothing but shame and confusion of face in a sense of their own pollutions.

How the blood of Christ was the meritorious cause of our purification as it was offered, in that thereby he procured for us eternal redemption, with all that was conducing or needful thereunto, and how thereby he expiated our sins, belongs not unto this place to declare. Nor shall I insist upon the more mysterious way of communicating cleansing virtue unto us from the blood of Christ, by virtue of our union with him. What hath been spoken may suffice to give a little insight into that influence which the blood of Christ hath into this first part of our sanctification and holiness. And as for those who affirm that it no otherwise cleanseth us from our sins, but only because we, believing his doctrine, confirmed by his death and resurrection, do amend our lives, turning from sin unto righteousness and holiness, they renounce the mystery of the gospel, and all the proper efficacy of the blood of Christ.

III. Faith is the instrumental cause of our purification: “Purifying their hearts by faith,” Acts xv. 9. The two unfailing evidences of sincere faith are, that within it purifieth the heart, and without it worketh by love. These are the touch-stones whereon faith may, yea, ought to be tried. We “purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit,” 1 Pet. i. 22; that is, by believing, which is our original obedience unto the truth. And hereby are our souls purified. “Unbelievers” and “unclean” are the same, Tit. i. 15; for they have nothing in them whereby they might be instrumentally cleansed. And we are purified by faith; because, — 1. Faith itself is the principal grace whereby our nature is restored unto the image of God, and so freed from our original defilement, Col. iii. 10; 1 John iii. 3. 2. It is by faith on our part whereby we receive the purifying virtue and influences of the blood of Christ; whereof we have before discoursed. Faith is the grace whereby we constantly adhere and cleave unto Christ, Deut. iv. 4; Josh. xxiii. 8; Acts xi. 22. And if the woman who touched his garment in faith obtained virtue from him to heal her issue of blood, shall not those who cleave unto him continually derive virtue from him for the healing of their spiritual defilements? 3. It is by the working of faith principally whereby those lusts and corruptions which are defiling are mortified, subdued, and gradually wrought out of our minds. All actual defilements spring from the remainders of defiling lusts, and their depraved workings in us, Heb. xii. 15; James i. 14. How faith worketh to the correcting and subduing of them, by deriving supplies of the Spirit and grace to that end from Jesus Christ, as being the means of our abiding in them, whereon alone those supplies do depend, John xv. 3–5, as also by the acting of all other graces which are contrary to the polluting lusts of the flesh and destructive of them, is usually declared, and we must not too far enlarge on these things. 4. Faith takes in all the motives which are proposed unto us to stir us up unto our utmost endeavours and diligence, in the use of all means and ways, for the preventing of the defilements of sin, and for the cleansing of our minds and consciences from the relics of dead works. And these motives, which are great and many, may be reduced unto two heads:— (1.) A participation of the excellent promises of God at the present. The consideration hereof brings a singular enforcement on the souls of believers to endeavour after universal purity and holiness, 2 Cor. vii. 1. And, (2.) The future enjoyment of God in glory, whereunto we cannot attain without being purified from sin, 1 John iii. 2, 3. Now, these motives, which are the springs of our duty in this matter, are received and made efficacious by faith only.