Download discussion questions: Romans 7:24-1:11
Download highlighted passage: Romans 7:24-1:11
Listen to John Piper on Owen
After looking at the passage individually for a few minutes, our discussion began with an observation that I had missed. The section begins with a question about being freed from “this body of death” (Romans 7:24), and it ends with the answer to his own question, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (8:11). One consistent characteristic of leading a discussion group in inductive Bible study is the insight from others. That observation raised the question, “How did Paul get from his question to his answer in this passage?”
The progress from Paul’s question to his answer starts with what God has done. While He condemns sin (8:3), Christ Jesus has removed that condemnation from those following Him (8:1). There was a question about the exact meaning of “condemnation,” and the consensus was that it was being found guilty and sentenced to punishment, ultimately the punishment of death. That puts the amazing work that Christ has done for us into perspective.
Someone in our group pointed out the word “might” in verse 4, that the requirement of the Law “might” be fulfilled in us. Does that imply uncertainty? Is there no guarantee that God’s plan in our lives will be completed? One person responded that Paul was describing the only way, the only “access point” to God. Any uncertainty grows out of the fact that not all people choose that access point. Another suggestion was that God has given us the capacity to please Him, to live the way He designed us to live, and the uncertainty is in how we will use that capacity. The “so that” at the beginning of verse 4 indicates that God’s purpose is that fulfillment, that we will use the capacity to please Him. (For those interested in the grammatical details, purpose is expressed in the subjunctive mood, it “might” or “may” happen.)
We discussed the flow of the passage, especially by looking at the words Paul uses repeatedly in the passage. “Mind,” “flesh,” “spirit,”, “law,” and “sin” are all used multiple times. Underlining and circling and drawing connecting lines to find these repetitions was helpful, but I had also prepared ahead of time a highlighted version of the passage. We used that handout to look for what significance the repetitions might have.
Our group spent much of our time looking at the contrasting phrases, such as “the law of the Spirit of life” and “the law of sin and death” (8:2), or “the mind set on the flesh” and “the mind set on the Spirit” (8:6). What do those expressions mean? In particular, what does it mean to have a mind set on the Spirit? How does the meaning of those expressions relate to the “might” in verse 4, the possibility that we will use the God-given capacity to please Him? As one member commented, “It matters whether we set our mind on the flesh or the Spirit,” so we need to know as much as we can about what that means? How do we recognize “spiritual mindedness” in ourselves? What, if anything, can we do to cultivate that mindset?
Those questions bring us to the work of John Owen (1616-1683), a Puritan pastor and theologian. He was well-known in his day and spoke before Parliament. He helped John Bunyan publish Pilgrim’s Progress.[1] Owen had significant things to say about being spiritually minded.[2]
Practicing Spiritual Mindedness
John Owen was a pastor who believed that the practice of true doctrine is essential.
For the mind of man is capable of receiving continual supplies in the increase of light and knowledge . . . if . . . they are improved unto their proper end in obedience unto God. But without this the mind will be quickly stuffed with notions so that no streams can descend into it from the fountain of truth.[3]
Owen’s theological writings are profound, but they were not intended merely for academic reading, “stuffed with notions.” Seeing God and His work in us with increasing clarity in Owen’s writings should increase our delight in God. As in our previous discussion on Augustine, we can grow in our joy in Him.
Defining Spiritual Mindedness
Owen starts with a simple, straightforward assumption: “Our minds were created to think of God above all things.”[4] Presumably spiritual mindedness involves recovering that original purpose. If Owen was correct, we clearly have lost the ability and/or the desire to use our minds as God intended. Interestingly, Dante, in a very different theological tradition, had a similar suggestion. Just after passing the entrance to Hell (“Abandon all hope ye who enter here”), Dante’s first summary description is the place where people “have lost the good of intellect” (Inferno III, 18).[5] They no longer have the ability to use their mind for its intended purpose, “to think of God above all things.”
Owen refers to Matthew 12:34, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” and comments,
So the thoughts of the heart reveal the real truth about a person. Thoughts which are voluntary, unforced, and which arise naturally – because they are delighted in and bring satisfaction to the mind – these are the thoughts which show us the real truth about ourselves.[6]
But when a person is relaxed and free from all cares and worries, and his mind is free to think as it pleases, then we can see what thoughts are natural to it.[7]
An important indication of spiritual mindedness, according to Owen, is that we genuinely enjoy thinking of God and His works. However, he makes it clear that this delight in God actually enhances all other aspects of life:
I have no intention of taking you away from your lawful earthly duties, but to bring spiritual desires and thoughts to rule over everything you do. The things required for spiritual mindedness will not deprive you of the time you can rightly lay claim to, but rather it will sanctify all you do.[8]
Remember our discussion on Augustine’s similar attitude delighting in all things because of our primary delight in God.
Feigning Spiritual Mindedness
Owen has several comments on counterfeit or, as one group member put it, “dishonest” imitations of genuine spiritual mindedness. Having occasional “happy thoughts about God” is not necessarily evidence of spiritual mindedness:
When the gospel is preached, it falls on such persons like showers of rain, giving rise to a running stream of spiritual thoughts. But having no well of water springing up within them to everlasting life, these spiritual thoughts soon dry up and nothing remains but an earthly, muddy sludge.[9]
Powerful preaching, or a sentimental hymn, or an emotional testimony can stir a person’s thinking toward a vague idea of God, but those brief, sporadic impulses never acted upon are not what Owen considers to be spiritual mindedness.
But when men have no spiritual thoughts at all except when they hear the gospel preached, then it is clear that they are not spiritually minded.[10]
As suggested before, authentic pleasure and delight are symptoms that separate spiritual mindedness from obligation and duty:
Spiritual thoughts may indeed be stirred up in unregenerate persons merely by carrying out a spiritual duty and by the exercise of spiritual abilities. The mind may be filled with thoughts of spiritual things, but the heart, being unregenerate, has no love or delight in them. It is merely a chore that must be done and done quickly.[11]
Recognizing Spiritual Mindedness
Owen suggests the value of spiritual self-examinations:
To arrive at peace and assurance about our spiritual state, we must impartially and strictly examine ourselves and not be afraid to speak to our souls that which the word of God says about them.[12]
The New Testament (2 Corinthans 13:5) also exhorts believers to consider the reality of our spiritual condition:
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? (NASB)
Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. (The Message)
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith! Prove yourselves! Or do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disapproved. (Disciples’ Literal New Testament)
The emphasized words communicate the idea of “test with the expectation of approving.”[13] We are to look expectantly for the evidence of God’s work in us. “‘He that believes has the witness in himself’ (1 John 5:10). Sincere faith will be its own evidence. Where there is faith, love and delight in God, prayer and other spiritual duties arise from grace.[14]
Owen suggests more specific evidences of spiritual mindedness.
Evidence of Delight
Do we authentically enjoy our spiritual activities?
Nobody can enjoy doing something which does not bring joy, peace, and satisfaction. Without joy, peace, and satisfaction, they can perform the duty but they cannot enjoy it.[15]
Evidence of Desire
Do we authentically desire spiritual activities?
Consider how much time you spend thinking about spiritual things compared to how much time you spend thinking about other things.[16]
Consider whether spiritual thoughts constantly take first place when the mind is free to think as it pleases.[17]
The first thing a spiritually-minded person thinks about is what God is saying to him in the daily circumstances of life, especially in times of great calamities and disasters.[18]
Cherishing Spiritual Mindedness
The passage in Romans indicates we should be spiritually minded, but what are the effects on us if we are?
To be spiritually minded is to have our minds filled with heavenly things because we love them and find great joy and delight in them. The spiritually minded person especially delights to think of Christ seated at the right hand of God.[19]
Spiritual mindedness is particularly crucial as we face difficulties.
But where our minds are filled with thoughts of the ‘glory that shall be revealed’, we shall cheerfully walk every path that leads to suffering.[20]
The only thing that will prevent these evils [fear, discouragement, backslidings, apostasy] arising from prolonged sufferings is a constant meditation on the future state of eternal glory.[21]
Ultimately, spiritual mindedness fuels our anticipation of paradise.
Our hope is that before long we shall be forever with him. If this is so, we must spend as much time as possible with him now. Not to do so would be stupid, It is stupid to suppose that we will forever find our highest happiness in Christ’s presence if we do not spend as much time as possible with him now.[22]
Cultivating Spiritual Mindedness
Owen offers a very realistic assessment: “There is nothing in all Christianity so difficult as meditating on heavenly and spiritual things.”[23] However, he also provides great hope for the results of those efforts: “The aim of disciplined meditation is to arouse our hearts to experience a sense of love, delight, and humility.”[24]
Meditation does not have to begin with the most profound truths. Feeling lost in knowing how to think about an infinite God is itself a starting point. Owen suggests we start where we are:
If you cannot understand infinite things, then adore God’s infinite greatness and incomprehensible perfections.
No one can see God and live. Not even in eternal glory will we be able to fully understand God and his infinite perfections.[25]
Just thinking about the fact that God is beyond our comprehension will move us into the direction of spiritual mindedness.
If we find difficulty in meditating on infinite things, then let us think of them by ‘the things that are seen’.[26]
Owen’s “things that are seen” can remind us of Job’s edges and whispers.
“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”
Job 26:14
Even our greatest thoughts about God, or the most magnificent sunset, or the Grand Canyon, or the Milky Way, are only hints. Those “things that are seen” can lift our thoughts to the One Who they dimly reflect.
Thinking about our eternal future in the presence of God’s glory will profoundly affect how we live during our journey to that home:
Those who have thought little of where they are going and what awaits them will be tempted to despair, to give up and to turn back. They have nothing to cheer them and nothing to encourage them to go on determined against all difficulties. But those who have taken the trouble to find out all they can about the place to which they are travelling will be spurred on by glorious hopes.
It is the same with our journey to heaven. Vague ideas of heaven [and of God] will not encourage us to persevere through all dangers and difficulties. Vague ideas [“hearsay impressions” – mw] will not excite in us a spiritual refreshing hope. But when we meditate on future glories as we ought, then the grace of hope will thrive and will be of inestimable benefit in making us spiritually minded.[27]
As mentioned before, Owen was very practically minded and wanted his theology to impact lives. He offered specific suggestions:
Spiritual mindedness will never be preserved, nor the requirements listed ever be carried out rightly, unless we dedicate some part of our time especially to them. The following is only for those who intend to set apart some time daily for holy duties, such as prayer and reading the Bible.[28]
Owen provides practical suggestions:
- Choose a time which is free from all worldly concerns.
- Take time to prepare your mind for spiritual thoughts.
- Do not come to meditate on heavenly things only out of a sense of duty.
- Cry to God for help.
- It is good and helpful to choose a specific subject to meditate on.
- Lastly, do not be discouraged when, after all your efforts, you find you accomplish little.
Even our devotional “failures” can advance our spiritual mindedness:
If we get nothing out of meditation but a renewed sense of our own vileness and unworthiness, we are still the gainers.[29]
Repentance, Mourning and Spiritual Mindedness
How are “vileness and unworthiness” part of spiritual mindedness? That question raised a mild controversy in our discussion. Aren’t we redeemed and children of the King and a long list of other positive images? Should we avoid or even eliminate such negative terms as “vileness”?
Owen offers an even more radically-sounding suggestion:
“To keep our souls in a constant state of mourning and self-abasement is the most necessary part of our wisdom . . . and it is so far from having any inconsistency with those consolations and joys, which the gospel tenders unto us in believing, as that it is the only way to let them into the soul in a due manner.”[30]
John Piper has an interesting paraphrase of Owen’s words: “If you don’t keep yourself in a self-abased, mourning frame, you won’t be as happy as you should be.”[31]
Only as we see the ugliness of our sin and what God has redeemed us from can we truly appreciate what He has done for us. Our joy is deepest when we see that in spite of the lingering effects of sin in our lives, He still shows us His mercy. Larry Crabb describes grace as “looking bad in the presence of love.” If we don’t remember (or if we intentionally avoid facing) our sinfulness (even as redeemed, justified sinners, Simul Justus et Peccator), we will limit our experience of God’s grace. Forgetting our not-yet-completely-sanctified condition also inclines us toward self-satisfaction or “acceptable mediocrity” or worse:
The best of men find it hard to fight against pride, especially when they are successful and being applauded by men. The only way to keep a balanced walk is to remember our vileness in the sight of God.[32]
That sense of “vileness” is not a demeanor of perpetual gloom: “When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by men” (Matthew 6:18). Just the opposite. Our trust in the love and mercy of God, even in our vile unworthiness, should overflow into outward, contagious joy. May we learn to be so spiritually minded that our joy draws others to our gracious and merciful God.
[1] For more details on Owen’s life and his teaching, see
John Piper, Contending for Our All (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), and
John Piper, “The Chief Design of My Life: Mortification and Universal Holiness; Reflections on the Life and Thought of John Owen” audio: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-chief-design-of-my-life-mortification-and-universal-holiness . Retrieved April 14, 2018
[2] John Owen, Spiritual Mindedness: Abridged and made easy to read by R.J.K. Law (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009).
[3] The Works of John Owen, ed. William Goold (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965), I, p. lxiv–lxv;
quoted in John Piper, Contending for Our All (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 104-105.
[4] Owen, 116.
[5] Dante Alighieri, trans. Dorothy L. Sayers, The Divine Comedy 1: Hell – I’Inferno (London: Penguin Books, 1949), 85.
[6] Owen, 8.
[7] Owen, 9.
[8] Owen, 124-125.
[9] Owen, 16.
[10] Owen, 17.
[11] Owen, 17.
[12] Owen, 18.
[13] Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996), 251.
[14] Owen, 25.
[15] Owen, 26.
[16] Owen, 36.
[17] Owen, 38.
[18] Owen, 41.
[19] Owen, 78.
[20] Owen, 79.
[21] Owen, 81.
[22] Owen, 74.
[23] Owen, 115.
[24] Owen, 120
[25] Owen, 105.
[26] Owen, 106.
[27] Owen, 53.
[28] Owen, 127-131.
[29] Owen, 131.
[30] The Works of John Owen, ed. William Goold (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965), VII, p. 532;
quoted in John Piper, Contending for Our All (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 103.
[31] John Piper, “The Chief Design of My Life: Mortification and Universal Holiness; Reflections on the Life and Thought of John Owen” audio at 1:01:00: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-chief-design-of-my-life-mortification-and-universal-holiness . Retrieved April 14, 2018.
[32] Owen, 48.