Having an understanding of how the affections are entangled by the law of sin, Owen now moves to how the will consents to sin. It is obvious, the will is principle, and “it is the seat and cause of obedience or disobedience." The will is the final straw, for if will goes one way there is nothing else to override the soul from doing. Once the will is set on a decision that is the direction it will go. Owen states,
Every sin is so voluntary, that if it be not voluntary it is not sin
The will, according to Owen however, consents in two different ways.
1. There is a full and complete "deliberation of prevailing consent" of the will. Owen illustrates,
With this consent the soul goes into sin as a ship before the wind with all its sails displayed, without any check or stop.
This is when the will is full in its consent unto a certain activity. The will "rushes into sin like a horse unto battle." There is no hesitancy, but there is a full compliance to the sin at hand.
2. There is also consent of the will where there is a "secret renitency [persistent oppressing] and volition of the contrary." Yes, there is consent in the will to a particular action, but there is a part of the will that knows that such an action is not best. Owen continues,
Thus Peter's will was in the denying of His master. His will was in it, or he had not done it. It was a voluntary action, that which e chose to do at that season. Sin had not been brought forth if it had not been thus conceived. But yea, at this very time, there was resident in his will a contrary principle of love to Christ, yea, and faith in him, which utterly failed not. [However, this word mine] The efficacy of it was intercepted.
This is true only in believers. We have the law of sin at work in our soul, and we have the law of grace at work in our soul. We desire to obey the law of sin when it commands at times, and then we desire to obey the law of grace in our soul when it commands therefore obeying Christ. Remember, there is within every believer "the desire to do good." Owen explains, "Grace has the rule and dominion, and not sin, in the will of every believer."
Owen would have us remember not only does the flesh lust against the Spirit, but the Spirit also lusts against the flesh. This comes as great encouragement to us as believers. We have an Advocate helping us in our battle against sin. You are not alone. The Spirit keeps the acting of sin from being full and complete. Owen concludes,
And much spiritual wisdom lies in discerning aright between the spirit renitency of the principle of grace in the will against sin, and the rebukes that are given the soul by conscience upon conviction for sin.
I believe this can be an application of what Paul prays for in Colossians 1:9, "And so, from the day we heard, we have not cased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." We should be praying for our brothers and sisters that they will be able to tell when the Spirit is lusting against the flesh to not give into the commands of the law of sin.
In the next point Owen does warn believers,
Observe, that reiterated, repeated acts of the consent of the will unto sin may beget a disposition and inclinableness in it unto the like acts, that may bring the will unto a proneness and readiness to consent unto sin upon easy solicitations.
Owen then moves to consider "the way that the deceit of sin proceeds in to procure the consent of the will." You must understand that the will does have "an appetite." It desires to be fed so it may act. The will is fed by the affections. This is why it is so important that we feed our affections on the things above, so that we will not give way to the law of sin, this how the law of sin captures the will. The will only chooses to do that which seems good unto it. Owen continues, "It cannot consent to anything under the notion or apprehension of its being evil in any kind." If it seems bad to the will to do something, it will simply do opposite that certain thing. This is how the law of sin operates upon our will, drawing away the mind from duty and entangling the affections to feed the will. Now the law of sin does acts in two ways to accomplish this:
1. It imposes "corrupt reasonings that grace is exalted in pardon." Owen describes how the Gospel teaches us to "deny worldliness" and then if one stumbles there is pardon in the shed blood of the cross. The law of sin,
Changes this method and order of the application of gospel truths
The Gospel's first intention is to keep us from sin and then relieve us from sin if we are to fall. However, the law of sin imposes liberty on the soul so to ruin grace. In this way, it makes the sin at hand seem favorable to the will. "Jesus Christ has bought your salvation; you will not burn for this action." This is a reversal of how God has designed the Gospel to apply to our lives. Do not give into this reasoning. The law of sin does this little by little, not shocking the soul in terror. It injects its poison little by little so you will not notice that sin carries your soul away.
2. It also imposes advantages to the will. Think about the Garden of Eden. Eve saw that "it is good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise." This thought drug her away from the promise, "You will surely die." Now it imposes in two ways:
1. It forces the will to make a hasty decision without considering the consequences. Owen illustrates,
So was the case with David in the matter of Nabal. A violent provocation from the extreme unworthy carriage of that foolish churl stirs him upon to wrath and revenge (I Samuel 25:33-34). His entangled, provoke affections surprised his will to consent unto the conception of many bloody sins.
2. It makes frequent solicitations. A certain lust may lay in the heart continually soliciting the will to its obedience. Just like Joseph's brothers,
They hate their brother, because their father loved him. Their affections being enticed, many new occasions fall out to entangle them further, as his dreams and the like. This lay rankling in their hearts, and never ceased soliciting their wills until they resolved upon his death.
The lusts in the heart build and bring greater solicitations every time it builds. One temptation becomes another. The will starts to enjoy one temptation, it then becomes another one, and it then likes it and builds to another. The will conceives sin at each step of this process. You can see how sin is building.
The law of sin gains this advantage as well by the darkness of the mind. We know the truth only partially as believers. There are still shades of darkness throughout our minds to which we are blind to the will of God. Darkness will always exist in the mind until Jesus Christ returns, until then, we will battle against sin. Owen distinguishes this darkness in to forms: ignorance and error.
1. If anyone is ignorant all together of the will of God, what weapon will it use to attack the solicitations of the law of sin? Owen reminds us, "God complains that his people 'perished for lack of knowledge' (Hosea 4:6). Being ignorant of the mind and will of God, they rushed into evil at every command of the law of sin."
2. "There is ignorance in every error, but there is no error in all ignorance." The law of sin desires this advantage because it finds the most heat in error. The mind is puffed up with knowledge and is deceived into thinking a certain action is correct by its error. Think about those who are zealous. They believe their actions are right, but they are in error. Not only do men need to fill their minds with the will of God, but also they must be sure they are filling their minds with the actual will of God and not of man. What does Proverbs 2 remind us? It states,
Understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, form men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness.
These men have no understanding, so they walk in darkness. Nevertheless, understanding is a wreath (Proverbs 1:8) around the neck that will protect one from evil.
Do not allow your mind to be ignorant or erroneous in its thinking. The law of sin will use this darkness to bring about its ends. This is why it is important that we be constantly before the cross. There is a tendency for us to compare ourselves with one another. We think, "Yeah, but I am not as bad as he is." However, if we have are eyes set on Jesus Christ, we will be ashamed of our nakedness. If we keep our eyes on the beauty and majesty of Christ, it will fill our minds with his will. See that your will is not enticed by your affections by having a weak mind. Fill your mind with affection for the cross of Jesus Christ. Be reminded of Chapter 11 of this work. If we think rightly about ourselves, this will give us a right view of what sin is before God and help us appropriate our responsibility before Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment