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Book Review of John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, edited by Richard Snoddy, Crossway, 2025.

One of the matters which has sparked significant debate among Christians since the Reformation is the extent of Christ’s atonement for sinners. Did Christ’s death merely make salvation available, or did it actually purchase and secure salvation for those whom God intended to save? More pointedly, was Christ’s death intended to save everyone, or only some? Inevitably, these questions shape how the gospel is proclaimed and applied in evangelism and preaching. They also intersect with pastoral counselling and our understanding of Christian assurance.

Christians agree that not all are saved, and that Christ, in His person and work, is of infinite worth. The disagreement arises when we consider the extent and intention of His atoning work, and whether the saving effects of His death were intended for all or for the elect alone. Furthermore, we consider whether the saving benefits of Christ’s death were intended for all or for the elect alone. Far from being a new debate, this theological disagreement has been the cause for much controversy, especially since the Reformation.

Among the classic treatments of the extent of Christ’s atonement is John Owen’s treatise The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, published almost 400 years ago. Crossway’s new edition includes a 62-page ‘Editor’s Introduction’ by Richard Snoddy, which places Owen’s treatise within its historical and theological context.

Snoddy also helpfully provides a twelve-page outline of Owen’s theological argument, together with a general summary of its contents. For readers who become lost in the labyrinth of Owen’s thought, this section provides a welcome retreat—a place to regain their bearings and discover where they are.

In The Death of Christ, John Owen — the great Puritan preacher and theologian — makes the case for definite atonement (often called ‘limited atonement’). This treatise was originally written to rebut the arguments of Thomas Moore (d. 1672), a layman who provoked a significant theological controversy for his publication of The Universality of God’s Free Grace (1643).

In this work, Moore argued that key texts in Scripture support a form of universal redemption that resembles what would later be called hypothetical universalism. Moore argued that Christ died for all making salvation genuinely available to all, while God nevertheless decreed to give saving faith only to the elect (cf. John 3:16-17, 1 Timothy 2:3-6, Hebrews 2:9, 1 John 2:2). This understanding has sometimes been called unlimited atonement. Although Moore was a layman and a weaver, his pamphlet was influential enough to spark a substantial theological controversy, warranting a response from Owen.

In The Death of Christ, Owen does not argue against the free offer of the gospel to all men. His disagreement with Moore concerns not the universal proclamation of Christ, but what Christ’s death actually accomplished and for whom it was intended.

That is to say, Christ did not come into the world to make salvation possible for everyone, thereby opening the way and waiting to see who would receive the offer. Rather, according to Owen, from eternity God purposed to purchase for His Son a bride — the church — whom He would redeem through the blood of His Son.

Therefore, the key issue concerns not whether Christ is proclaimed to all, but rather God’s intent in sending His Son. Because God intended to redeem His people through the death of Christ, the atonement accomplished what God decretively willed: the redemption of His elect. Thus, in Owen’s understanding, the doctrine of election is inextricably linked with the doctrine of definite atonement.

Owen argued that many doctrines are at stake if we deny definite atonement. This is because definite atonement is not an isolated theological conundrum reserved for theological elites, but rather cuts at the heart of the gospel message we preach. While Christians can and do disagree on the nature and extent of the atonement, The Death of Christ reminds us that this doctrine has significant implications for how we understand the nature of God and the gospel.

First, Owen argues that if Christ’s death actually satisfied divine justice for every individual, then God could not justly punish those for whose sins Christ had already made satisfaction. Conversely, God must vindicate all those who have been the subject of Christ’s atonement. Therefore, if Christ died for all men in this sense, Owen argues, God must save all men. If He does not, He is unjust, for their debt has already been paid.

By implication, our understanding of the atonement has implications for how we understand the character of God and the nature of the gospel. This influences the way we preach and understand assurance of salvation, the manner in which we share the gospel with non-believers, and the confidence (or lack of) we can have in the promises of God.

Second, if Christ’s death merely made salvation possible without actually securing the faith and salvation of those whom God intended to save, then the decisive difference between those who believe and those who do not ultimately lies outside the accomplishment of Christ’s death.

Faith risks being detached from the saving benefits secured by Christ and treated as the decisive condition distinguishing those who receive salvation from those who do not. Conversely, if Christ’s death was intended to save the elect and the elect only, then faith itself belongs to the salvation which Christ secures for His people.

The Bottom Line

It is often said that John Owen is the most difficult of the Puritans to understand. After reading this treatise, I concur with this conclusion. I can confidently say that John Owen is not an easy author to read. Without exaggeration, some sentences in The Death of Christ spanned an entire page — and sometimes longer.

Whether I blame my inability at times to follow Owen’s train of thought on the altitude at which his mind was flying when he wrote this mammoth work, or on my own lack of concentration, I cannot tell. What I can say is that this book challenged me to think more deeply about my Saviour and His death for me.

Nevertheless, what I am confident of is that deep theological reflection on the nature and extent of the atonement is much needed in every generation of Christians, including our own. As is the case with definite atonement, it is easy for us to sideline theological debates, and dismiss discussions as theological nitpicking. However, we should care about such doctrines because we worship a God who has spoken truthfully and precisely, and who has given us a Bible that can be understood.

While there are certain doctrines — such as definite atonement — that require deep theological reflection, we should not back away from wrestling with such issues. Rather, we should approach them prayerfully, with a willingness to submit to the teaching of Scripture even when we cannot fully understand the mind of God. The nineteenth-century minister Charles Bridges put it like this:

“It presents few difficulties to the humble, many to the proud, insuperable ones to the vain. To believe the word, because God hath spoken, is the one and true resting-place of faith.”

I would highly recommend this new edition of The Death of Christ to any believer who wants a deeper understanding of Scripture’s teaching on Christ’s atonement. Not only is this volume a handsome hardcover that will beautify your bookshelf, it is also a goldmine from which there is much truth to excavate. My prayer is that by the time the whole 40-volume series of The Complete Works of John Owen is complete, it would be a great blessing to the church, not primarily that we understand Owen better, but that we would know more deeply our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

– James Jeffery