Wednesday, October 7, 2009

More on the law of sin

From Triumph Over Temptation by John Owen as edited by James M. Houston:

The law of sin is not a written, commanding law so much as an inbred, impelling, urging law. It proposes in temptation, and because it is inbred, it is strongly compelling. That is why God makes His new covenant internal, implanting it in the heart. (46)

There are many outward temptations that beset men, exciting and stimulating them to do evil. But the root and spring of all these things lie in the heart. Temptations do not put anything into a man that is not there already. (48)

But the intrusion of sin has upset the harmony and the orderly union. So the will refuses to choose the good the mind discovers. The affections do not delight in what the will chooses. All rebel against one another. This is the result of not following God. Thus what makes the heart so deceitful is its inconsistency within itself. Its own conduct is not stable. (50)

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