Can God Forgive Without Justice? | John Owen

Deep Dive into A Dissertation on Divine Justice by John Owen - IntroductionJohn Owen's work defends the doctrine that divine justice is a natural and essential attribute of God, meaning the punishment of sin is absolutely necessary. Owen wrote the dissertation to refute the idea, maintained by Socinians and even some orthodox theologians like William Twisse and Samuel Rutherford, that God could simply pardon sin through a free act of his will without requiring any satisfaction to his justice. Owen recognized that if God could forgive sin without justice being satisfied, the absolute necessity of Jesus Christ's atonement would be severely undermined. Therefore, he sought to prove that a complete satisfaction to God's law and justice was essential for the pardon and salvation of sinners.The work, originally titled Diatriba and published in Latin, stemmed from theological disputations Owen participated in at Oxford University. After delivering a short public discourse on the topic, he was urged by several respected peers to provide a more comprehensive and scholastic investigation of vindicatory justice. In the first part of his treatise, Owen uses Scripture, the consent of mankind, providence, and the revelation of the cross to prove that sin-punishing justice is natural to God. The second part directly addresses and refutes the opposing arguments.Owen dedicated the dissertation to Oliver Cromwell, who was then the commander-in-chief and chancellor of Oxford. Despite his heavy administrative burdens as vice-chancellor, frequent travels, and public lecturing duties, Owen felt compelled to write the piece out of a deep reverence for God's holiness and a desire to defend evangelical truth. He explicitly rejected rhetorical flourishes, prioritizing clear, scriptural arguments over elegant language in his defense of the Christian faith.Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologianYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReformedExplainerSpotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1t5dz4vEgvHqUknYQfwpRI?si=e-tDRFR2Qf6By1sAcMdkdwhttps://buymeacoffee.com/edi2730