John Owen on How You Can “Abound More and More” in Your Walk with God

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.—1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV)

Walking as to Please God More and More

Truly, the great thing that is upon my heart to exhort you unto—and this text of Scripture confirms it—is to “abound more and more” in such work¹ wherein we might please God. I cannot speak with that love the apostle did, nor with that authority the apostle did; no, truly. We cannot say we have taught you in all things, yet, how to walk and to please God; though we hope you have been taught:² but I can truly say that the same thing is upon my heart, according to my measure, to beseech you and exhort you, to declare unto you how to walk in this church relation wherein you stand, so as that you may please God, and so as that you may abound in so walking more and more; and the Lord convince us all, every one, that it is our duty to be abounding in this matter! Some may think there is no more needful but so to walk as that they may be members of the church, and give no offense to the church; some they have already attained a good reputation by their profession, may not think it incumbent upon them to do any more but to keep up their place and station, not decaying. Our duty is quite otherwise; we are to “abound more and more.”

Now, because³ I do intend, if I live, and God will and permit, at my return to go over all the special duties of our relation, showing them all how we may all so walk as to please God, I shall lay a little general foundation at present out of these words, and that in this rule or proposition—

A Foundational Rule: All Church Members Are Obligated to Walk in Holiness

That there is a peculiar walking with God in fruitful⁴ holiness required of all who are admitted into the fellowship of the gospel, the communion of the saints, and order of the churches.⁵

That is the first general rule, and I would build all that ensues upon it. There is a peculiar walking with God, so as to please God, and a progress therein, abounding more and more in it, required of all who are admitted to the privileges of the gospel in church order and society, and the communion of the saints.

A walking with God—in the Scripture our obedience to God is not so frequently expressed, in general, by any one word as by this of walking: to walk with God; to walk in his law; to walk in his statutes; to walk in the fear of the Lord.

Sermons from the Early Restoration Years (1669–1675)

John Owen, Martyn C. Cowan

Volume 20 of The Complete Works of John Owen includes several brief sermons on the power of the gospel, the Lord as refuge, and the coming judgment. It has been edited for modern readers by Martyn C. Cowan.

Now,⁶ this walk we speak of, is the whole course of our conversation, and our exercise therein with regard unto God. That is a man’s walk. As is the course of a man’s conversation and exercise therein with respect unto God, so is his walk: which may be either straight or crooked; it may be either close or loose; it may be either with God or contrary to him. “If ye walk contrary to me,” says God, “I will walk contrary to you.”⁷ And it is variously expressed in Scripture. Sometimes it is called walking with God: “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24); sometimes it is called walking before God: “Walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. 17:1);⁸ sometimes it is called a walking after God: “The king⁹ made a covenant to walk after God” (2 Kings 23:3); sometimes it is called a “walking worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10); and sometimes it is termed a “humbling ourselves to walk with God” (Mic. 6:8).¹⁰ We render it to “walk humbly with God”; but it is so in the original.¹¹ And all this is to show that God ought to be all in all in our walk; that we ought so to walk as those who have all from him, as those who do all for him, as those who design conformity to him, and as those that wait for the enjoyment of him. It is every way expressed, that we may know that God ought to be all in our whole walk—that is, in all we do in this world.¹²

Answerable hereunto, God’s gracious actings toward us are called his walking with us. “And I will walk among you,” says God (Lev. 26:11–12). Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed.¹³ When God and we walk together in peace, upon the agreement made between us by Christ, by the blood of the cross, then are we in our places, and then is God exalted.

Now, this walking with God, without which, as I shall manifest afterward to you,¹⁴ all our privileges and all our enjoyments are useless, are dangerous, are present means and will be future aggravations of eternal ruin (without it, I say,¹⁵ that which we lay such weight upon, that which we suffer for, that which we rejoice in, if there be not this walking with God, so as to please him, it is useless and dangerous—it is a present means of destruction, and will be a future aggravation of it),

I say¹⁶ this walking with God may be considered two ways: 1. With respect unto the covenant of God in general; and, 2. With respect unto the particular church covenant, or holy agreement that is among us¹⁷ in the fellowship of the gospel, which the apostle has here a particular respect unto: “How ye ought to walk”; “Ye church of Thessalonica, which is in God the Father and in our Lord Jesus Christ; how ye ought to walk.

Generally, with Respect to the Covenant

1. First, it is our obedience in general according unto the tenor of the covenant of grace;¹⁸ for so it is expressed. All covenant obedience is expressed in that word,¹⁹ “Walk before me” (Gen. 17:1). “I am the Almighty God,” says he,²⁰ “walk before me, and be thou upright.”²¹ And so, when God promises his Spirit to fulfill in all believers, in all the elect, the grace of the covenant,²² he says, “I will write my law in their hearts, and cause them to walk in my statutes.”²³

Particularly, with Respect to the Church Covenant

Now, brethren, I would desire you to consider this,

2. In the second place, that church society is the peculiar way that God has chosen and ordained wherein we may express covenant obedience, unto the glory of God and the furtherance of our own salvation. I say, that church society is a peculiar way God hath appointed whereby we may express our covenant obedience, unto the glory of God and unto the furtherance of our own salvation.²⁴ And if any man ask us a reason of this way, and a reason of the ordinances of this way we can give him neither better nor other answer than this, “It is the way God has appointed wherein we may express our covenant obedience to his glory.

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Two Implications

Hence these two things follow—

1. First, that no man can walk as he ought, and please God in church society, that does not walk as he ought in the covenant of grace. The reason is plain, for this church society is nothing but the way God has appointed to express that obedience; as all institutions from the beginning of the world were nothing but ways God had appointed to express covenant obedience in.

There is no man, therefore, let them in any way or means²⁵ come into a church²⁶ and be made partaker of the privileges of the church, can walk so as to please God (as the text says) in that church,²⁷ unless he walk antecedently and fundamentally in the covenant obedience that God requires of him.

2. Secondly, it follows from hence that no man can walk as he ought to the glory of God in covenant obedience, that does not join himself to some church society wherein to walk; and the reason is, because it is the way God has chosen and²⁸ appointed whereby that obedience may be expressed, in one church society or other that is sound in the faith, walking in the truth.²⁹ A man cannot walk orderly else in covenant obedience, because he knows not how to express it to the glory of God.³⁰

The Necessity of Walking in Obedience to the Covenant of Grace

1. Now, the first of these, how we should walk in general with respect unto the covenant of grace, I shall not speak unto. It is a long work, a great work; it is not that which I design.¶

(1) In brief,³¹ the principle of it is the Spirit of God, whence we are said to “walk in the Spirit”³²

(2) The rule of it is the word of God, whence we are said to walk according to that rule, “mercy and peace be on us”³³—the life, way, power of it, is Jesus Christ.

(3) The life, way and power of it is Jesus Christ, in the third place, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life”³⁴—

(4) The object and end of it is God himself; we walk before God, and we walk to come to the enjoyment of God—

(5) The bounds of it are the covenant; nothing beyond what God requires in his covenant belongs to this walk, nothing that falls beneath the grace³⁵ of the covenant does belong unto it, nothing that is contrary to the precepts of the covenant.³⁶ It is the covenant that gives bounds to our walking. And the design of this walking is the resignation of ourselves unto God, conformity to him, and enjoyment of him. But these are not the things I intend.

The Necessity of Membership of a Particular Church

2. That which I intend to speak unto (not now, but hereafter),³⁷ is—

Walking with God in Church Relations

(1) Our walk with God in that especial church relation wherein we stand. And I shall endeavor, if God will, to show you how we ought to walk so as to please God, by plain, evident, familiar instructions from the Scripture, accommodated unto our state and condition in all things. Walking with God in Days of Temptation (2) And, secondly, press it upon your consciences and my own, as the necessity, and condition, and temptations befalling churches, in the days wherein we live, does require; and especially with respect unto that woeful conformity to the world which seems to have overtaken the generality of professors in this day.

Walking with God in Days of Temptation

(2) And, secondly, press it upon your consciences and my own, as the necessity, and condition, and temptations befalling churches, in the days wherein we live, does require; and especially with respect unto that woeful conformity to the world which seems to have overtaken the generality of professors in this day.

The Necessity of Mutual Watchfulness

What I spoke unto you the last day³⁸ has occasioned me to go thus back, to lay this foundation; for that will give but one particular of what will be found necessary to press upon you, that you may so walk as to please God, and abound in it more and more.³⁹

Yet that is such a weighty particular—namely, how we may every one of us, in our places and conditions, and under our opportunities, promote holiness in one another, and be awakened to a diligent watchfulness unto that duty— that I would beg of you that that might not fall off from our consideration with the experience⁴⁰ of other things. And that you might know how to put it in practice more among us was referred to your consideration as well as mine.⁴¹

Notes:

The Hartopp manuscript has “walking” in place of “work.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 264 (fol. 133v).
The manuscript has “we have endeavoured it” in place of “you have been taught.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 265 (fol. 134r).
The manuscript adds “on the late occasion.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 265 (fol. 134r). This is a reference to the first discourse on Eph. 4:14–16, delivered in the discourse from May 23.
The manuscript has “fruits of ” in place of “fruitful.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 265 (fol. 134r).
The manuscript prefers “church” to “churches.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 265 (fol. 134r).
The manuscript inserts “our walking.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 266 (fol. 134v).
The manuscript omits the second half of this paraphrasing of Lev. 26:21–24.
The manuscript adds “walk in my sight.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 266 (fol. 134v).
The manuscript prefers “they” in place of “the king.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 266 (fol. 134v).
Owen preached five sermons on this text. See Walking Humbly with God, in Complete Works of John Owen, 22.
In place of this sentence, the manuscript has: “walking humbly with God, to take of from a proud heart so as to walk with God.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 266 (fol. 134v).
The manuscript has “enjoy” in place of “in this world.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 266 (fol. 134v).
See Amos 3:3.
The manuscript adds “for I speak to a church.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 267 (fol. 135r).
The manuscript omits “I say.”
The manuscript prefers “now” to “I say.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 267 (fol. 135r).
The manuscript has “beleivers” in place of “us.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 267 (fol. 135r).
The manuscript omits “of grace.
The manuscript has “these words” in place of “that word.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 267 (fol. 135r).
The Hartopp manuscript omits “says he.”
The manuscript prefers “perfect” to “upright.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 267 (fol. 135r). The former is the translation from the Authorized Version (KJV), and the latter is from the Geneva Bible (GNV).
The manuscript has “in all the fullness of the grace of the covenant” in place of “in all the elect, the grace of the covenant.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 267 (fol. 135r).
Ezek. 36:27.
The Hartopp manuscript omits this sentence.
The Hartopp manuscript omits “or means.”
The manuscript prefers “Churches” to “a church.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 268 (fol. 135v).
The Hartopp manuscript omits “(as the text says) in that church.
The Hartopp manuscript omits “chosen and.”
The Hartopp manuscript omits this final clause.
The manuscript has “in the ways of God” in place of “to the glory of God.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 268 (fol. 135v).
The manuscript adds “I will but name it.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 268 (fol. 135v). The italics are from Goold, and they are not present in the Hartopp fair copy. See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Sermons of John Owen, MS OWE, fol. 117v; The Works of John Owen, William H. Goold, 24 vols. (Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter, 1850–1855), 17:541.
Gal. 5:16.
Gal. 6:16.
John 14:6.
The manuscript prefers “end” to “grace.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 268 (fol. 135v).
The manuscript inserts “the new Covenant.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 268 (fol. 135v).
The manuscript omits the material in parentheses and in its place states, “is this if God gives season and opportunety.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 269 (fol. 136r).
I.e., May 23, 1674.
The manuscript has “walking towards God” in place of “it more and more.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 269 (fol. 136r).
The manuscript has “expectation” in place of “experience.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 269 (fol. 136r).
The manuscript adds “I did not think to have spoken unto you at all about this but resolved to speak to one or two of those dutys which concurr to this great direction how we ought to walk as to please God. I thought to lay this foundation at this time. The End.” See Owen, “Sermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:1,” Hartopp, MS L6/2, 269 (fol. 136r).

This article is adapted from Sermons from the Early Restoration Years (1669–1675) (Volume 20) by John Owen, edited by Martyn C. Cowan.

Martyn C. Cowan (PhD, University of Cambridge) is a minister of the Presbyterian church in Ireland who serves as the lecturer in historical theology and vice principal of Union Theological College, Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author of John Owen and the Civil War Apocalypse: Preaching, Prophecy and Politics.

John Owen (1616–1683) was vice-chancellor of Oxford University and served as adviser and chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. Among the most learned and active of the Puritans in seventeenth-century England, he was accomplished both in doctrine and practical theology.

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