John Owen on the Trinity
One substance, three persons, co-equal and co-eternal
One only, in respect of his essence and being, but one in three distinct persons, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost... One every way, in nature, will, and essential properties, distinguished only in their personal manner of subsistence.
THE POSITION
One essence, three persons, co-equal and co-eternal, with person defined as a distinct manner of subsistence rather than a separate being. Owen assigns the personal properties in the classical way — the Father of himself the fountain of the Godhead, the Son begotten from eternity, the Spirit proceeding from Father and Son — and insists that to deny the deity of one person is in effect to deny the whole Godhead.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
17 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
The most formidable English Puritan theologian: Dean of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford under Cromwell, later a nonconformist pastor in London. This entry rests on The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (1647), The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677), Pneumatologia and the Discourse of Spiritual Gifts (1674), and the Two Short Catechisms (1645), read in the Goold edition of the Works.
Cite this page
"John Owen on the Trinity", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/owen/trinity (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/owen/trinity).