Apostasy from the Gospel
Few subjects have received less attention from contemporary Christian writers than that of apostasy. The idea that professing Christians may prove not to be true Christians is, in many respects, too serious a prospect for our facile age. But, for John Owen, such avoidance of the issue was itself a pressing reason for writing on it at length and in great depth of spiritual analysis. His exposition is a masterpiece of penetration and discernment.
Excerpt from Apostasy from the Gospel:
The great secret purpose of sinful man is to go on living his sinful life with as little trouble as possible in the present life, and with every hope of avoiding future punishment in the next.
There are two ways of doing this:
- Deny that there is a God. Obliterate all ideas of good and evil, and all sense of future reward and punishments (Psa. 14:1; 10:4).
- Give them a religion which will allow men to continue to indulge their sinful lusts and yet still appear to be Christian (2 Tim. 3:5).
