John Owen’s volume four, also called The Works of the Holy Spirit (or originally, Pneumatologia), is undoubtedly his great contribution to the doctrine of pneumatology. Actually, it is a continuation of volume three, which is also about the discourse of the Holy Spirit. These two volumes contain nine works; the first five works are in volume three, while the rest (i.e., six to nine) are in volume four. These enormous volumes show the importance of the Holy Spirit to Owen, and it is in them that we see Owen as one of the outstanding Puritan pneumatologists. For anyone who is interested in studying Owen’s pneumatological view, see Ferguson’s paper—“John Owen and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit” in John Owen: The Man and His Theology (pp. 101-29). This paper, read at the Conference of The John Owen Centre for Theological Study in September 2000, is a good tool for understanding Owen’s volumes 3 and 4.
As it has been said, volume four encloses four books, but the sixth book is so large (more than 200 pages) that needs to be divided into two parts. Thus, in reality, volume four has five sections: First, The Reason of Faith (book 6, part 1), where Owen addresses one important inquiry in bibliology—on what basis we believe the Bible to be the word of God? His answer is, on the basis of the effectual illumination of the Holy Spirit. Second, The Causes, Ways, and Means of Understanding the Minds of God as Revealed in His Word (book 6, part 2), in which Owen discusses the question—how can we rightfully understand or interpret the word of God? Again he believes that it is the Holy Spirit that helps the believers comprehend the word of God correctly, and that while the Holy Spirit is the efficient cause, He uses means for the understanding of the Scripture such as the reading of Bible, prayer, proper knowledge of the original languages of Scripture, and others. Third, A Discourse of the Work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer (book 7), which is an excellent treatise against the use of liturgical forms of prayer. Owen believes that Christians are not to compose prayers for others to pray, but to pray for others. He stresses the operation of the Holy Spirit in prayer. This treatise, in its contents, is similar to that of John Bunyan’s I Will Pray with the Spirit, and I Will Pray with the Understanding Also: Or, a Discourse Touching Prayer (London: Printed for the Author, 1663), which is also an attack to the use of forms of prayer. Fourth, A Discourse on the Holy Spirit as a Comforter (book 8), which, as its title bears, is an exposition of the special office of the Spirit as the comforter of the believers. Owen also discusses here the special benefits that believers have in the Holy Spirit such as the unction and sealing of the Spirit. Finally, A Discourse on the Holy Spirit as the Author of Spiritual Gifts (book 9), which is an outstanding volume for the scrutiny of charismata. These last two treatises, according to Owen, complete his studies concerning the dispensation of the Holy Spirit (355).
Owen is indeed a master of pneumatology. He approaches the doctrine of the Holy Spirit from different angles. He connects it to the Bible (book 6); to prayer (book 7); to the church (book 8); and to the spiritual gifts (book 9).
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