Owen cared about worshiping the triune God properly. His theology of public worship is established on the triune God and beholding him by faith now. It’s practiced in a church’s worship service by actively communing with Christ—by looking at him—through the prescribed ordinances of worship found in God’s Word. Expressing spiritual affections by faith in God is the way to abide in Christ, to have communion with him.
The 17th-century “Prince of Puritans,” John Owen (1616–83), committed his life to the work of ministry as a pastor, theologian, vice chancellor, chaplain, and statesman. He desired to worship the triune God freely—without any external regulations not explicitly found in Scripture.
What was Owen’s theology of public worship, and how should it be practiced in a worship service?
Behold the Glory of God for Worship
Owen regularly taught that worship, private or public, is beholding God’s glory. This glory motivates and creates worship, and for Owen, this all centers on the person of Christ.
“Some men speak much of the imitation of Christ, and following his example,” Owen explains. “But no man shall ever become ‘like unto him’ by bare imitation of his actions, without that view or intuition of his glory which alone is accompanied with a transforming power to change them into the same image.”
Through this “view or intuition of [Christ’s] glory,” Christians begin to be conformed to the Son’s image (Rom. 8:29). This is why the nature of worship is connected not to the external works one does but to the heart’s affections. The inevitable result is worshipful action—a life of holiness. Owen wants people to truly see Christ’s beauty as the theological foundation and motivation for worship.
Worship on the Lord’s Day
For Owen, the Lord’s Day is a continuation of the fourth commandment in the Old Testament—to keep the Sabbath.