Communion with the Lord Christ in Personal Grace | John Owen

Deep Dive into The Saint's Fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit by John Owen - Part II: Chapter 2In John Owen's text, he explains that believers experience a unique and distinct communion with Jesus Christ primarily through grace. The scriptures frequently emphasize this connection, noting that Christ is full of grace and truth, and from His abundant fullness, believers receive all their spiritual blessings. Owen categorizes this grace into three distinct types: the grace of personal presence and attractiveness, the grace of free favor and acceptance, and the sanctifying fruits of the Spirit. While the latter two are considered purchased grace, Owen focuses extensively on Christ's personal grace in His role as the Mediator.This personal grace does not refer merely to His divine nature in isolation or to His physical human appearance on earth, but rather to His spiritual preeminence, comeliness, and beauty in His mediatorial office. Drawing from the Song of Solomon, Christ is poetically described as being white and ruddy. He is white in the radiant glory of His Deity and ruddy in the preciousness of His humanity. Furthermore, He is white in His perfect innocence and moral holiness, but He became ruddy through the agonizing shedding of His blood and the imputation of sin to satisfy divine justice. Finally, He is white in His tender mercy toward believers and red in His righteous justice toward His enemies.Christ's personal excellence is defined by three key aspects: His fitness to save through the union of His divine and human natures, His fullness to save through the Spirit's limitless anointing, and His excellence to endear by perfectly satisfying all the spiritual needs of human souls. Owen concludes by passionately urging his readers, especially the youth and the outwardly religious, to abandon empty worldly pursuits and instead earnestly seek true, satisfying communion with the altogether lovely Christ.Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologianYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReformedExplainerWorship Music: https://suno.com/playlist/3a498d0f-c90e-4981-8aa7-59834e7239f7https://buymeacoffee.com/edi2730