John Owen Quotes

It was always very clear to me that God was sovereign in salvation.

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.

Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.

Man is nothing; he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him" and "you dishonour God by denying election. You plainly make salvation depend, not on God's 'free grace' but on Man's 'free will.'

Let all Arminians know: we have as high an esteem for faith as any men in the world, but yet we will not rob Christ to clothe faith.

And I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, "If any man ascribes any of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ aright."

I believe that very much of current Arminianism is simply ignorance of gospel doctrine; and if people began to study their Bibles, and to take the Word of God as they find it, they must inevitably, if believers, rise up to rejoice in the doctrines of grace.

There are two great truths which from this platform I have proclaimed for many years. The first is that salvation is free to every man who will have it; the second is that God gives salvation to a people whom He has chosen; and these truths are not in conflict with each other in the least degree.

Jesus gives his life for the congregation, not the other way around.

I believe Jesus Christ is God. I believe He loves every single human being that has ever lived, no matter what they have done, even if they don't believe in Him.

Because of total depravity, you and I were desperate for God's grace before we were saved. Because of total depravity, you and I remain desperate for God's grace even after we're saved.

God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, with Their perfect foreknowledge, already recommended every one of you to fill your mortal probation during the most decisive period in the history of the world.

The salvation of the elect was as certain before His advent, though accomplished by it, as afterwards.

For God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The essence of faith is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.

To every soul that knows how to pray, to every soul that by faith comes to Jesus, the true mercy seat, divine sovereignty wears no dark and terrible aspect but is full of love.

Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God. Thinking that we can trade our good works for salvation is like buying a plane ticket and then supposing we own the airline. Or thinking that after paying rent for our home, we now hold title to the entire planet earth.

God in His wisdom has decided that He will reward no works but His own.

I love Jesus.

My Calvinism persuades me that we are open to God, in the sense that we are not delimited, not organisms with fixed attributes in the manner of the other creatures, but are instead participants in a reality that utterly exceeds our powers of description.

Sin does not stop God's grace from flowing, but God's grace will stop sin.

I think what Calvinism may offer us is that God's in charge of his world.

Jesus is the only Savior, but not everybody who is saved by Him is aware that He is the one who is doing the saving.

Our God is a forgiving God.