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John Owen, Christologia
Christologia:
or a Declaration of the glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ--God

and Man:
with the infinite Wisdom, Love, and Power of God in the Contrivance
and Constitution thereof;
as also,

of the Grounds and Reasons of His Incarnation;
the Nature of His Ministry in Heaven;
the Present State of the Church above thereon; and
the Use of His Person in Religion:

with
an Account and Vindication of the Honour, Worship, Faith, Love, and
Obedience due unto Him, in and from the Church.

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win
Christ."--Philippians 3:8.

Table of Contents

Prefatory Note
The Preface
Chapter I. Peter's Confession; Matt.16:16--Conceits of the Papists

thereon--The Substance and Excellency of that Confession
Chapter II. Opposition made unto the Church as built upon the Person
of Christ

Chapter III. The Person cf Christ the most ineffable Effect of Divine
Wisdom and Goodness--Thence the next Cause of all True
Religion--In what sense it is so

Chapter IV. To Person of Christ the Foundation of all the Counsels of
God
Chapter V. The Person of Christ the great Representative of God and
his Will
Chapter VI. The Person of Christ the great Repository of Sacred Truth-
-Its Relation thereunto.
Chapter VII. Power and Efficacy Communicated unto the Office of
Christ, for the Salvation of the Church, from his Person
Chapter VIII. The Faith of the Church under the Old Testament in and
concerning the Person of Christ
Chapter IX. Honour due to the Person of Christ--The nature and Causes
of it

Chapter X. The Principle of the Assignation of Divine Honour unto the
Person of Christ, in both the Branches of it; with is Faith in
Him

Chapter XI. Obedience unto Christ--The Nature and Causes of it
Chapter XII. The especial Principle of Obedience unto the Person of
Christ; which is Love--Its Truth and Reality Vindicated.
Chapter XIII. The Nature, Operations, and Causes of Divine Love, as it

respects the Person of Christ
Chapter XIV Motives unto the Love of Christ
Chapter XV. Conformity unto Christ, and Following his Example
Chapter XVI. An humble Inquiry into, and Prospect of, the infinite

Wisdom of God, in the Constitution of the Person of Christ,
and the Way of Salvation thereby

Chapter XVII Other Evidences of Divine Wisdom in the Contrivance of
the Work of Redemption in and by the Person of Christ, in
Effects Evidencing a Condecency thereunto

Chapter XVIII. The Nature of the Person of Christ, and the
Hypostatical Union of his Natures Declared

Chapter XIX. The Exaltation of Christ, with his Present state and Condition in Glory during the Continuance of his Mediatory Office.

Chapter XX. The Exercise of the Mediatory Office of Christ in Heaven
Prefatory Note

To object of Dr Owen in this treatise is to illustrate the mystery of
divine grace in the person of Christ. It bears the title,
"Christologia;" but it differs considerably from modern works of the
same title or character. It is not occupied with a formal induction
from Scripture in proof of the supreme Godhead of the Saviour. Owen
assumes the truth of this doctrine, and applies all his powers and
resources to expound its relations in the Christian system, and its
bearings on Christian duty and experience.
Chapter 1 of the work is devoted to an exposition of Matt.16:16, as a
warrant and basis for his inquiry respecting the person of Christ.
Chapter 2 contains some historical references to the opposition
encountered by this doctrine in past ages. From Chapter 3 to 7
inclusive, the person of Christ is exhibited as the origin of all true
religion, the foundation of the divine counsel, the representation of
the divine nature and will, the embodiment and sum of divine truth,
and the source of divine and gracious efficacy for the salvation of
the church. The faith of the Old Testament Church respecting it is
illustrated in Chapter 8. Then follows the second leading division of
the treatise, in which the divine honours and obedience due to Christ,
and our obligation to seek conformity to him, are urged at some
length, from Chapter 9 to 15. It is followed in Chapters 16 and 17
with an inquire into the divine wisdom as manifested in the person of
Christ. The hypostatical union is explained, Chapter 18. Two more
Chapters, 19 and 20, close the work, with a dissertation on the
exaltation of Christ, and the mode in which he discharges his

mediatorial functions in heaven.
The treatise was first published in 1679. We are not informed under
what particular circumstances Owen was led to prepare it. There is
internal evidence in the work itself that he laboured under a strong
impression of the peril in which evangelical religion would be
involved, if views of the person of Christ, either positively unsound
or simple vague and defective, obtained currency in the British
churches. His acquaintance with the early history of the church taught
him that against this doctrine the persevering assaults of Satan had
been directed; and, with sagacious foresight, he anticipated the rise
of heresy on this point in England. He speaks of "woeful contests"
respecting it,--increasing rather than abating "unto this very day;"
and intimates his conviction, in language which elucidates his main
design in this work, that the only way by which they could be
terminated was to enthrone Christ anew in the hearts and consciences
of men.
Events ensued which justified these apprehensions of Own. A prolonged
controversy on the subject of the Trinity arose, which drew forth the
works of Bull (1686), Sherlock (1690), and South (1695). In 1710,
Whiston was expelled from Oxford for his Arianism. Dr S Clarke, in
1712, published Arian views, for which he was summoned before the
Convocation. Among the Presbyterian Dissenters Pierce and Hallet
(1717) became openly committed to Arianism. Dr Isaac Watts who
succeeded (1702) to the charge of the same congregation in London
which had been under the care of Owen, broached the "Indwelling
Schema"; according to which the Father is so united to the man Christ
Jesus, whose human soul preexisted his coming in the flesh, that,
through this indwelling of the Godhead, he became properly God.
The Christology of Owes has always been highly valued, and will be of
use to all ages of the church:--"A work," says the late Dr M'Crie,
"which, together with its continuation, the 'Meditations on the Glory
of Christ,' of all the theological works published by individuals
since the Reformation, next to 'Calvin's Institutions', we would have
deemed it our highest honour to have produced."--Ed.

The Preface

It is a great promise concerning the person of Christ, as he was to be
given unto the church, (for he was a child born, a son given unto us,
Isa.9:6,) that God would "lay him in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a
tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation," whereon "he
that believeth shall not make haste:" Isa.28:16. Yet was it also
foretold concerning him, that this precious foundation should be "for
a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense, to both the houses of
Israel; for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;" so
as that "many among them should stumble, and fall, and be broken, and
be snared, and be taken:" Isa.8:14,15. According unto this promise and
prediction it has fallen out in all ages of the church; as the apostle
Peter declares concerning the first of them. "Wherefore also," saith
he, "it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not

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