John Owen - Communion with the Triune God (Foreword by Kevin J. Vanhoozer)

Here is a modern readers edition of a classic Puritan work by a classic Puritan author. It is a powerful Trinitarian profiling from Scripture of the truth that fellowship with God is and must ever be the inside story of the real Christians life. The editing is excellent, and the twenty-seven-page introduction and the thirty-page analytical outline make the treatise accessible, even inviting, to any who, with Richard Baxter, see heart-work as the essence of Christianity. John Owen is a profound teacher on all aspects of spiritual life, and it is a joy to welcome this reappearance of one of his finest achievements.

J. I. Packer, the Board of Governors professor of theology, Regent College

Among English-speaking theologians and pastors, John Owen and Jonathan Edwards run neck and neck for the first place in profound, faithful, fruitful displays of the glory of God in the salvation of sinners. Not only that, they are both running for first among the ranks of those who show practically how that glory is experienced here and now. Owen may have the edge here. And Communion with God is his most extraordinary effort. No one else has laid open the paths of personal fellowship with the three persons of the Trinity the way Owen does. It is simply extraordinary. What an honor it would be to God if more of his children knew how to enjoy him the way Owen does.

John Piper, pastor for preaching and vision,
Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Owen is not for the faint of heart or for the impatient or for the lazy. But for those who want to deepen their understanding of Gods greatness and how we walk with him, this book will repay, many times over, the effort its reading requires.

David F. Wells, Andrew Mutch distinguished professor of historical
and systematic theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

This is just the right time for a republishing of John Owens great work. There is renewed interest in the Trinity these days, and there is also a deep hungering for genuine spirituality. Owen combines the two in a powerful manner, pointing the way to a vital relationship with the triune God. It good to have this classic available againand to have it introduced by gifted interpreters of Owens life and thought.

Richard J. Mouw, president;
professor of Christian philosophy, Fuller Seminary

John Owens treatise is remarkable in many ways. It is one of the finest examples of Owens massive output. It is a landmark in Western Trinitarian thought, uniquely wedding profound theology to Christian piety. It vividly thrusts before us the Holy Trinity as the one object of our worship. Kapic and Taylor have removed many of the difficulties of seventeenth-century writing in this edition, making accessible an old classic to a new audience. This book could revolutionize your thoughts of God, your worship of him, and how you live in todays world.

Robert Letham, senior tutor in systematic and historical theology,
Wales Evangelical School of Theology

Union and communion with God the Holy Trinity lies at the heart of reformation theology. John Owen was one of the greatest expositors of this, and a new edition of his classic work on the subject, updated for modern readers, is long overdue. This is exactly the kind of teaching we need to revitalize the church in our generation. As Owens experience of the living God becomes ours we shall be set on fire with longing to know God more deeply and serve him more faithfully in a world which needs him as much now as it did in Owens day.

Gerald L. Bray, research professor of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

John Owens Communion with God is the best thing there is on relational theology.In a nuanced and biblically rich way, Owen develops the believers responsive engagement with God the Holy Trinity through study, worship, and meditation. This is a remarkable book that will surprise and challenge. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor have nicely rewrapped it, making it accessible to a new generation.

Paul Helm, Regent College

Owens exceptional work is partly a biblical and dogmatic treatise, partly a searching reflection on the practice of fellowship with the triune God. This new edition deserves to claim many new readers for a classic of Protestant practical divinity.

John Webster, chair of systematic theology,
Kings College, University of Aberdeen

John Owen was perhaps the greatest of the Puritan theologians and this new edition of his classic study of Trinitarian spirituality will be a blessing to all who read it. Gods self-revelation as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is not a teaching to be checked off and shelved away for doctrinal safekeeping. It is rather the ultimate basis of prayer, ethics, worship, and Christian life itself. No one presents this truth more powerfully than the great Owen, and Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylors new edition of Communionwith God gives us fresh access to his mind and heart.

Timothy George, dean, Beeson Divinity School,
Samford University; senior editor, Christianity Today

Communion with
the Triune God

Communion with the Triune God
Copyright 2007 by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor
Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Cover design: Josh Dennis
Cover illustration: Bridgeman Art Library
First printing 2007
Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Owen, John, 16161683.
Communion with the Triune God / by John Owen; edited by Kelly M. Kapic and
Justin Taylor; foreword by Kevin J. Vanhoozer.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Of communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each person
distinctly in love, grace, and consolation.
Includes indexes.
ISBN 978-1-58134-831-6 (tpb)
1. Spirituality. I. Kapic, Kelly M., 1972 II. Taylor, Justin, 1976 III. Owen, John,
16161683. Of communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each person
distinctly in love, grace, and consolation. IV. Title.
BV4501.3.O93 2007
231.7dc22

2007020762

DP 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

With gratitude and love to our parents:

Gary and Linda Kapic
Gerald and Diane Taylor

CONTENTS

Communion with the Triune God

ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers

LXX Septuagint

NPNF The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

NPNF1The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1

NPNF2The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2

PCG Poetae Comici Graeci

PG Patrologia Graeca

PL Patrologia Latina

As one who has ploughed postmodern fields and cleared deconstructive hermeneutical thickets, it gives me particular pleasure to introduce and commend the work of a seventeenth-century theologian that takes us to the very heart of Puritan faith, hope, and love. Despite my extended forays into various kinds of postliberal and postconservative theologyor perhaps because of themJohn Owens study of communion with the triune God strikes me as especially significant, even contemporary, and this for three, maybe four, reasons.