Top 70 John Owen Quotes From The English Nonconformist Church Leader And Theologian

John Owen was a great man who was famously known for his non-conformist ideologies.

John Owen was a versatile man who was a  Church leader, a theologian, and an academic administrator at Oxford University. For a brief time, he was also a member of the parliament at the University.

John Owen has written some notable books which are considered to be of major importance for future generations too. Few of his books are 'The Mortification Of Sin' (1656), 'Communion With The Triune God', and 'The Death Of Death' (1647).

John Owen has several quotes and phrases that are still discussed among poets, academics, and students. Below are given a list of quotes by John Owen, his quotations on grace in many of his books, and other works.

If you like this article on John Owen, you might also check out other articles John Paul II and [John Piper].
 

Best John Owen Quotes

John Owen has quoted about different topics though his focus was always theology. Here are some of his best quotes listed.

1. "Satan's greatest success is in making people think they have plenty of time before they die to consider their eternal welfare."

- John Owen.

2. "If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false.

- John Owen.

3. "Let our hearts admit, 'I am poor and weak. Satan is too subtle, too cunning, too powerful; he watches constantly for advantages over my soul.'"

- John Owen.

4. "The world presses in upon me with all sorts of pressures, pleas, and pretences. My own corruption is violent, tumultuous, enticing, and entangling."

- John Owen.

5. "If the Word does not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us."

- John Owen.

6. "The growth of trees and plants takes place so slowly that it is not easily seen. Daily we notice little change. But, in course of time, we see that a great change has taken place. So it is with grace."

- John Owen.

7. "Because he is; that is, because he is an infinitely glorious, good, wise, holy, powerful, righteous, self-subsisting , self-sufficient, and all-sufficient being."

- John Owen.

8. "He who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays."

- John Owen.

9. "If Scripture has more than one meaning, it has no meaning at all."

- John Owen.

10. "Faith, if it be a living faith, will be a working faith."

- John Owen.

11. "A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more."

- John Owen.

12. "To those to whom Christ is the hope of future glory, he is also the life of present grace."

- John Owen.

13. "We must not be concerned only with that which troubles us, but with all that troubles God."

- John Owen.

14. "He that is more frequent in his pulpit to his people than he is in his closet for his people, is but a sorry watchman."

- John Owen.

15. "We speak much of God, can talk of him, his ways, his works, his counsels, all the day long; the truth is, we know very little of him."

- John Owen.

16. "Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you."

- John Owen.

17. "Steadfastness in believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows upon it."

- John Owen.

18. "There is no true gospel fruit without faith and repentance."

- John Owen.

19. "A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit."

- John Owen.

John Owen Puritan Quotes

A Puritan is a member of a group of the religious reform movement that arose within the Church Of England in the 16th century. John Owen was a Puritan and here are few John Owen Jesus is God quotes, the sins of the father quotes and other quotes on God and even walk with God quote.

20. "To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect."

- John Owen.

21. "The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men."

- John Owen.

22. "To those to whom Christ is the hope of future glory, he is also the life of present grace."

- John Owen.

23. "Christ did not die for any upon condition, if they do believe; but He died for all God's elect, that they should believe."

- John Owen.

24. "The duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ."

- John Owen.

25. "We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God's tasks. This is the law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment."

- John Owen.

26. "Every time we say we believe in the Holy Spirit, we mean we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it."

- John Owen.

27. "Whatever God works in us by his grace, he commands us to do as our duty. God works all in us and by us."

- John Owen.

28. "The foundation of true holiness and true Christian worship is the doctrine of the gospel, what we are to believe."

- John Owen.

29. "So when Christian doctrine is neglected, forsaken, or corrupted, true holiness and worship will also be neglected, forsaken, and corrupted."

- John Owen.

30. "The purpose of our holy and righteous God was to save his church."

- John Owen.

31. "When I walk, I walk with God. He's always with me, He never leaves me and He will shine the light on me."

- John Owen.

32. "We can have no power from Christ unless we live in a persuasion that we have none of our own."

- John Owen.

33. "Christ's blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls."

- John Owen.

34. "Unless men see a beauty and delight in the worship of God, they will not do it willingly."

- John Owen.

35. "The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you."

- John Owen.

36. "The more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes."

- John Owen.

37. "The more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world."

- John Owen.

38. "The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the word"

- John Owen.

39. "Pardon comes not to the soul alone; or rather, Christ comes not to the soul with pardon only! It is that which He opens the door and enters by, but He comes with a Spirit of life and power."

- John Owen.

We must take a steady look at the glory of Christ in His special character, in His grace and work, as shown to us in the Scripture."

- John Owen.

40. "For to pretend that men may live habitually sinful lives without any attempt by the Spirit to mortify sin in them, nor with any desire for repentance, is to deny the Christian religion."

- John Owen.

41. "We shall not benefit from reading the Old Testament unless we look for and meditate on the glory of Christ in its pages."

- John Owen.

42. "God never intended for us to be left to pray on our own. God never changes His purpose, but He often does purpose a change."

- John Owen.

John Owen Quotes On Sin

John Owen has spoken greatly about sins committed by men and how to resolve them and even mentioned quite often that "none of you are free of sin". Here are few of the quotes about sin by the theologian.

43. "The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin."

- John Owen.

44. "The vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depends on our mortification of deeds of the flesh."

- John Owen.

45. "every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop."

- John Owen.

46. "Fill your affections with the cross of Christ that there may be no room for sin."

- John Owen.

47. "As it conceives sin, it wars within me and against me. Occasions and opportunities for temptation are innumerable."

- John Owen.

48. "No wonder I do not know how deeply involved I have been with sin. Therefore, on God alone will I rely for my keeping. I will continually look to Him."

- John Owen.

49. "Unless we are thoroughly convinced that without Christ we are under the eternal curse of God, as the worst of His enemies, we shall never flee to Him for refuge."

- John Owen.

50. "If a man teach uprightly and walk crookedly, more will fall down in the night of his life than he built in the day of his doctrine."

- John Owen.

51. "Consider who and what you are; who the Spirit is that is grieved, what he has done for you, what he comes to your soul about, what he has already done in you; and be ashamed."

- John Owen.  

52. "He that hath slight thoughts of sin, never had great thoughts of God."

- John Owen.

53. "There is no death of sin without the death of Christ."

- John Owen.

54. "Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. "

- John Owen.

55. "And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death."

- John Owen.

John Owen Quotes About Salvation

John Owen has also spoken vastly on salvation and how to curb the human temptation to obtain enlightenment. Here are few of the quotes that talk about salvation.

56. "If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation."

- John Owen.

57. "When the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers, he does a complete work in them."

- John Owen.

58. "Sanctification is a progressive, lifelong work . It is an amazing work of God's grace and it is a work to be prayed for."

- John Owen.

59. "To imagine that we can do these things by our own efforts is to trample on the cross and grace of Jesus Christ. "

- John Owen.

60. "If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be better than they are in the world: at least, we should be better enabled to bear them."

- John Owen.

61. "See in the meantime that your faith brings forth obedience, and God in due time will cause it to bring forth peace."

- John Owen.

62. "Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before."

- John Owen.

63. "Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also! These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root."

- John Owen.

64. "Among those who walk with God, there is no greater motive and incentive unto universal holiness."

- John Owen.

65. "There is only one way to be revived and healed from our backslidings so that we may become fruitful even in old age.

66. "Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction"

- John Owen.

John Owen Mortification Of Sin Quotes

'The Mortification Of Sin' was one of the most famous books by John Owen and here are some of the quotes from that book.

67. “He can make the dry parched ground of my soul to become a pool and my thirsty barren heart as springs of water."

-  John Owen.

"Yes he can make this habitation of dragons this heart which is so full of abominable lusts and fiery temptations to be a place of bounty and fruitfulness unto Himself”

-  John Owen.

68. “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

- John Owen.

69. "Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls."

- John Owen.

70. "Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yea, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet.”

- John Owen.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for John Owen quotes then why not take a look at God is good quotes, or thank you God quotes.