In chapter 13 of Indwelling Sin in Believers, John Owen said before he moved on to examine the remaining evidence for the power and efficacy of sin, he wanted to reflect further on James 1:14, which he thought was “the bottom and foundation of our discourse of the general deceitfulness of sin.” Owen said James seems to be saying in 1:14 (“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire”) that whenever sin is conceived, it is inevitably brought forth. However, by placing the origin of sin in the consent of the will to the sin, as he did in chapter 12 (See “Engaging the Will with Indwelling Sin”) and supposing that the manifestation of sin consists in its actual commission, “we know that these do not necessarily follow one another.” Owen said that there is a realm of sin conceived in the womb of the wills and hearts of men that is never brought forth. How can this be true?
First, it is not because of the connection between desire and sin in this realm. When sin conceives, it wants to give birth (James 1:15). And if in fact, it does not, there is only a minor reduction of its guilt. A will determined to sin is actual sin. There is nothing lacking on sin’s part, if a conceive sin is not actualized. The obstacle and impediment to its conception lies elsewhere.
There are two things necessary for a conceived sin to become actualized: power and the resolve of the will to give it birth. Wherever these two are, actual sin will ultimately ensue. Therefore, whatever would hinder conceived sin must affect either the power or the will of the sinner. And this hinderance must be from God!
He has two ways of doing it—by his providence or by his grace. Owen is not saying they are distinct from each other. There is always a generous mixture of grace in God’s providence and ample providence mixed within his grace. However, providence is seen in the power or the outward acts of the individual, and grace is evident internally with regards to the will.
So, when sin is conceived, the Lord can obstruct its production by his providence by taking away the power necessary for its to be accomplished—life itself. Life is the foundation of all power, and when it ceases, “all power ceases with it.” God frequently averts the power of sin by taking away the lives of those who conceived it. He did so with Sennacherib by taking away the life of his soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). Similarly, he dealt with those soldiers who came to take Elijah by sending down fire from heaven (2 Kings 1:10-12).
But, Owen asked, since even believers may conceive sin, does God ever prevent its production and accomplishment in them by taking their lives? Surely, God does not judicially cut off the life of any who are his in order to prevent the manifestation of some sin they may have conceived. This would be directly contrary to 2 Peter 3:9, where it says the Lord is patient towards us, not wishing that any should perish, but “that all should reach repentance.”
This is the purpose for the long suffering of God towards believers, that before they die, they may come to the awareness and repentance of every known sin. This is the unchangeable rule of God’s patience in the covenant of grace. Far from being an encouragement to sin, it is a motive to universal watchfulness against it. It is of the same nature as the gospel of grace and mercy in the blood of Christ. This exemption of which we speak lies in direct contradiction to it.
Whereas our Savior declares the whole nature of conceived sin in the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5, it cannot be that they must perish forever who are “so judicially cut off.” God does not deal that way with his. He does not cast off the people he foreknew. And yet, there are some cases where God may take away the lives of his own in order to prevent the guilt they would otherwise incur.
For example, if there was coming some great temptation and trial upon the world that God knew one of his elect would not be able to withstand. Knowing that it would dishonor him, God takes them out of the world, as it says in Isaiah 57:1, “For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.” Not only is he taken from the evil of punishment and judgment, but also the evil of temptations and trials. This often proves to be the worse of the two.
It may also occur in the case of ignorance or not knowing the mind and will of God. This seems to have been the case with Josiah when he was killed in battle at Carchemish (2 Chronicles 35:24). Doubtless the Lord often proceeds like this:
When any of his own are engaged in ways which please him not, through the darkness and ignorance of their minds, that they may not proceed to further evil or mischief, he calls them off from their station and employment, and takes them to himself, where they shall err and mistake no more.
Ordinarily, God has other ways of diverting individuals from sin, other than killing them, as we shall see. God can also providentially hinder conceived sin by cutting short the power necessary to bring it forth. Without that power it is impossible to execute what they had intended or bring forth what they had conceived. Here we also have various examples in Scripture. In 1 Kings 13:4 Jeroboam stretched out his hand to lay hold of the prophet, but it withered and became useless.
This is a tried-and-true way for God to prevent sin from overflowing the world. He cuts people short of their moral power necessary to accomplish the sin. Many who have plotted mischief against the church of God have been divested of the power by which they sought to accomplish it. Some have their bodies stricken with disease, so they cannot serve their lusts. Others are deprived of the instruments by which they would accomplish their work.
There has been for many days, sin and mischief enough conceived to root out the generation of the righteous from the face of the earth, had men strength and ability to their will, did not God cut off and shorten their power, and the days of their prevalence.
In some cases, under some intense temptations, God may obviate the accomplishment of conceived sin with believers. However, there is a difference from what he does with nonbelievers and it is only in cases of extraordinary temptation. One way or another God takes away their power so they are not able to do what they have designed. In this way God awakens them to consider what they are doing, and brings about a repentant change in their hearts from the sin they intended.
God may also prevent the accomplishment of the conceived sin by removing or taking away the means by which the sin the conceived sin was to have been committed. God may do this by diverting the thoughts of the individuals who had conceived sin. In Genesis 37, the brothers of Joseph had thrown him in a pit with the intention of starving him. But God brings a company of Ishmaelite merchants by, and diverts their thoughts with a new thought—selling him instead of killing him. “These are some of the ways whereby God is pleased to hinder the bringing forth of conceived sin, by opposing himself and his providence to the power of the sinning creature.”
