Table Of ContentThe Forgiveness of Sin
A Practical Exposition Upon Psalm 130
by John Owen
"Search the Scriptures."—John 5:39
Table of Contents
PREFATORY NOTE BY THE EDITOR
To the Reader
Psalm 130
A paraphrase
General scope of the whole psalm
VERSES FIRST AND SECOND
The state and condition of the soul represented in the psalm
Gracious souls may be brought into depths on the account of sin
Whence it is that believers maybe brought into depths on account of sin—Nature of the supplies of
grace given in the covenant
What sins usually bring believers into great spiritual distresses—Aggravations of these sins
The duty and actings of a believer under distresses from a sense of sin—His application unto God, to
God alone
VERSE THIRD
The words of the verse explained, and their meaning opened
What first presents itself to a soul in distress on the account of sin—This opened in four propositions
The first particular actings of a soul towards a recovery out of the depths of sin
Grounds of miscarriages when persons are convinced of sin and humbled
VERSE FOURTH
The words explained, and the design or scope of the psalmist in them discovered
No encouragement for any sinner to approach unto God without a discovery of forgiveness
Greatness and rareness of the discovery of forgiveness in God
False presumptions of forgiveness discovered—Differences between them and faith evangelical
The true nature of gospel forgiveness
Forgiveness discovered or revealed only to faith—Reasons thereof
Discovery of forgiveness in God a great supportment to sin-entangled souls—Particular assurance
attainable
Evidences of forgiveness in God
Discovery of forgiveness in the first promise—The evidence of the truth that lies therein—And by the
institution of sacrifices
Farther evidences of forgiveness with God—Testimonies that God was well pleased with some that
were sinners
Institution of religious worship an evidence of forgiveness
The giving and establishing of the new covenant another evidence of forgiveness with God
The name of God confirming the truth and reality of forgiveness with him
Forgiveness manifested in the sending of the Son of God to die for sin
Properties of forgiveness—The greatness and freedom of it
Evidences that most men do not believe forgiveness
Exhortation unto the belief of the forgiveness that is with God
Rules to be observed by them who would come to stability in obedience
RULE I.—Christ the only infallible judge of our spiritual condition
RULE II.—Self-condemnation and abhorrency for sin consistent with gospel justification and peace—
The nature of gospel assurance
RULE III.—Continuance in waiting necessary unto peace and consolation
RULE IV.—Remove the hinderances of believing by a searching out of sin—Rules and directions for
that duty
RULE V.—Distinction between unbelief and jealousy
RULE VI.—Distinction between faith and spiritual sense
RULE VII.—Mix not foundation and building work together
RULE VIII.—Spend not time in heartless complaints
RULE IX.—Take heed of undue expressions concerning God and his ways in distress
RULE X.—Duly improve the least appearances of God in a way of grace or pardon
RULE XI.—[Consider where lies the hinderance to peace]
Grounds of spiritual disquietments considered
State of regeneration asserted—Difference of saving and common grace
RULE I
RULE II
RULE III
RULE IV
Objections: Weakness and imperfection of duty—Opposition from indwelling sin
VERSES FIFTH AND SIXTH
[The words explained]
God the proper object of the soul's waiting in its distresses and depths
Considerations of God rendering our waiting on him reasonable and necessary—His glorious being
Influence of the promises into the soul's waiting in time of trouble—The nature of them
VERSES SEVENTH AND EIGHTH
[The words explained]
[Doctrinal observations on them]
PREFATORY NOTE
———
THE circumstances in which this Exposition of Psalm 130 originated are peculiarly interesting. Dr
Owen himself, in a statement made to Mr Richard Davis, who ultimately became pastor of a church in
Rowel, Northamptonshire, explains the occasion which led him to a very careful examination of the
fourth verse in the psalm. Mr Davis, being under religious impressions, had sought a conference with
Owen. In the course of the conversation, Dr Owen put the question, "Young man, pray in what manner
do you think to go to God?" "Through the Mediator, sir," answered Mr Davis. "That is easily said,"
replied the Doctor, "but I assure you it is another thing to go to God through the Mediator than many
who make use of the expression are aware of. I myself preached Christ," he continued, "some years,
when I had but very little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to God through Christ; until
the Lord was pleased to visit me with sore affliction, whereby I was brought to the mouth of the grave,
and under which my soul was oppressed with horror and darkness; but God graciously relieved my
spirit by a powerful application of Psalm 130:4, But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be
feared;' from whence I received special instruction, peace, and comfort, in drawing near to God
through the Mediator, and preached thereupon immediately after my recovery." The incident to which
he refers had occurred at an early period in his public life; and it is probable this Exposition is the
substance of the discourses which he preached on his recovery from affliction, under the influence of
enlivened faith in the mediation of Christ. We cannot wonder that the particular verse which had
proved to Owen a spring of refreshment in a weary place, should receive prominent and prolonged
consideration in this work. The exposition of it constitutes nearly three-fourths of the whole treatise.
These facts, moreover, account for its prevailing character. It is hardly a specimen of pure
commentary, so much as a series of discourses, with the verses of the psalm, and more especially the
fourth verse, as the texts selected. The charge of prolixity and diffuseness, urged against this work,
applies only if it be tried by the rules according to which we estimate the merits of a commentary.
There are, for example, thirteen separate facts and arguments, illustrative of the great doctrine that
there is forgiveness with God, each opening up very precious mines of thought and inquiry, but all of
them out of place, at least in the length to which they extend, if viewed simply as the exposition of a
verse. The reader bent on his own edification, rather than on judging of the work by the standard of a
very rigid criticism, not unthankful for what of commentary proper it contains, will be happy that the
author took a course leaving him free to indulge in that teeming opulence of evangelical illustration,
and frequency of awakening appeals, which impart a distinctive character and peculiar interest to the
work.
The original imprimatur of the volume bears date 1668; and such, according to all authorities, was the
year in which it first appeared. We have seen an edition printed in 1669, and another printed in 1680.
The latter must correspond with, and must have been printed from the first edition, for it contains some
sentences quite obscure and incomplete, which are corrected in the edition of 1669. It is singular, also,
that every modern reprint should embody the inaccuracies of the first edition.—ED.
TO THE READER
———
CHRISTIAN READER,
THE ensuing exposition and discourses are intended for the benefit of those whose spiritual state and
condition is represented in the psalm here explained. That these are not a few, that they are many, yea,
that to some part or parts of it they are all who believe, both the Scriptures and their own experience
will bear testimony. Some of them, it may be, will inquire into and after their own concernments, as
they are here declared. To be serviceable to their faith, peace, and spiritual consolation hath been the
whole of my design. If they meet with any discovery of truth, any due application of it to their
consciences, any declaration of the sense and mind of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures, suitable unto
their condition and useful to their edification, much of my end and purpose is obtained.
I know some there are that dislike all discourses of this nature, and look upon them with contempt and
scorn; but why they should so do I know not, unless the gospel itself, and all the mysteries of it, be
folly unto them. Sin and grace in their original causes, various respects, consequents, and ends, are the
principal subjects of the whole Scripture, of the whole revelation of the will of God to mankind. In
these do our present and eternal concernments lie, and from and by them hath God designed the great
and everlasting exaltation of his own glory. Upon these do turn all the transactions that are between
God and the souls of men. That it should be an endeavour needless or superfluous, to inquire into the
will of God about, and our own interest in, these things, who can imagine? Two ways there are
whereby this may be done,—first, speculatively, by a due investigation of the nature of these things,
according as their doctrine is declared in the Scripture. An endeavour according to the mind of God
herein is just and commendable, and comprehensive of most of the chief heads of divinity. But this is
not to be engaged in for its own sake. The knowledge of God and spiritual things has this proportion
unto practical sciences, that the end of all its notions and doctrines consists in practice. Wherefore,
secondly, these things are to be considered practically; that is, as the souls and consciences of men are
actually concerned in them and conversant about them. How men contract the guilt of sin, what sense
they have and ought to have thereof, what danger they are liable unto thereon, what perplexities and
distresses their souls and consciences are reduced to thereby, what courses they fix upon for their
relief; as also, what is that grace of God whereby alone they may be delivered, wherein it consists, how
it was prepared, how purchased, how it is proposed, and how it may be attained; what effects and
consequents a participation of it doth produce; how in these things faith and obedience unto God,
dependence on him, submission to him, waiting for him, are to be exercised,—is the principal work
that those who are called unto the dispensation of the gospel ought to inquire into themselves, and to
acquaint others withal. In the right and due management of these things, whether by writing or oral
instruction, with prudence, diligence, and zeal, doth consist their principal uesfulness in reference unto
the glory of God and the everlasting welfare of the souls of men. And they are under a great mistake
who suppose it an easy and a common matter to treat of these practical things usefully, to the
edification of them that do believe; because both the nature of the things themselves, with the concerns
of the souls and consciences of all sorts of persons in them, require that they be handled plainly, and
without those intermixtures of secular learning and additions of ornaments of speech which discourses
of other natures may or ought to be composed and set off withal. Some, judging by mere outward
appearances,—especially if they be of them from whom the true nature of the things themselves treated
of are hid,—are ready to despise and scorn the plain management of them, as that which hath nothing
of wisdom or learning accompanying of it, no effects of any commendable ability of mind for which it
should be esteemed. But it is not expressible how great a mistake such persons, through their own
darkness and ignorance, do labour under. In a right spiritual understanding, in a due perception and
comprehension of these things,—the things of the sins of men and grace of God,—consists the greatest
part of that wisdom, of that soundness of mind, of that knowledge rightly so called, which the gospel
commands, exhibits, and puts a valuation upon. To reveal and declare them unto others in words of
truth and soberness fit and meet; to express them unto the understandings of men opened and
enlightened by the same Spirit by whom the things themselves are originally revealed; to derive such
sacred spiritual truths from the word, and by a due preparation to communicate and apply them to the
souls and consciences of men,—contains a principal part of that ministerial skill and ability which are
required in the dispensers of the gospel, and wherein a severe exercise of sound learning, judgment,
and care, is necessary to be found, and may be fully expressed.
Into this treasury, towards the service of the house of God, it is that I have cast my mite in the ensuing
exposition and discourses on the 130th Psalm. The design of the Holy Ghost was therein to express and
represent, in the person and condition of the psalmist, the case of a soul entangled and ready to be
overwhelmed with the guilt of sin, relieved by a discovery of grace and forgiveness in God, with its
deportment upon a participation of that relief. After the exposition of the words of the text, my design
and endeavour hath been only to enlarge the portraiture here given us in the psalm of a believing soul
in and under the condition mentioned; to render the lines of it more visible, and to make the character
given in its description more legible; and withal, to give unto others in the like condition with the
psalmist a light to understand and discern themselves in that image and representation which is here
made of them in the person of another. To this end have I been forced to enlarge on the two great heads
of sin and grace,—especially on the latter, here called the "forgiveness that is with God." An interest
herein, a participation hereof, being our principal concernment in this world, and the sole foundation of
all our expectations of a blessed portion in that which is to come, it certainly requires the best and
utmost of our endeavours, as to look into the nature, causes, and effects of it, so especially into the
ways and means whereby we may be made partakers of it, and how that participation may be secured
unto us unto our peace and consolation; as also into that love, that holiness, that obedience, that
fruitfulness in good works, which, on the account of this grace, God expecteth from us and requireth at
our hands. An explication of these things is that which I have designed to ensue and follow after in
these discourses, and that with a constant eye, as on the one hand to the sole rule and standard of truth,
the sacred Scriptures, especially that part of it which is under peculiar consideration; so, on the other,
to the experience and service unto the edification of them that do believe, whose spiritual benefit and
advantage, without any other consideration in the world, is aimed at in the publishing of them.
AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM 130
———
VERSE 1. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.
2. Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5. I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that
watch for the morning.
7. Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous
redemption.
8. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
A PARAPHRASE
Verses 1, 2.—O Lord, through my manifold sins and provocations, I have brought myself into great
distresses. Mine iniquities are always before me, and I am ready to be overwhelmed with them, as with
a flood of waters; for they have brought me into depths, wherein I am ready to be swallowed up. But
yet, although my distress be great and perplexing, I do not, I dare not, utterly despond and cast away
all hopes of relief or recovery. Nor do I seek unto any other remedy, way, or means of relief; but I
apply myself to thee, Jehovah, to thee alone. And in this my application unto thee, the greatness and
urgency of my troubles makes my soul urgent, earnest, and pressing in my supplications. Whilst I have
no rest, I can give thee no rest. Oh, therefore, attend and hearken unto the voice of my crying and
supplications!
Verse 3.—It is true, O Lord, thou God great and terrible, that if thou shouldst deal with me in this
condition, with any man living, with the best of thy saints, according to the strict and exact tenor of the
law, which first represents itself to my guilty conscience and troubled soul; if thou shouldst take notice
of, observe, and keep in remembrance, mine, or their, or the iniquity of any one, to the end that thou
mightst deal with them, and recompense unto them according to the sentence thereof, there would be,
neither for me nor them, any the least expectation of deliverance. All flesh must fail before thee, and
the spirits which thou hast made, and that to eternity; for who could stand before thee when thou
shouldst so execute thy displeasure?
Verse 4.—But, O Lord, this is not absolutely and universally the state of things between thy Majesty
and poor sinners; thou art in thy nature infinitely good and gracious, ready and free in the purposes of
thy will to receive them. And there is such a blessed way made for the exercise of the holy inclinations
and purposes of thy heart towards them, in the mediation and blood of thy dear Son, that they have
assured foundations of concluding and believing that there is pardon and forgiveness with thee for
them, and which, in the way of thine appointments, they may be partakers of. This way, therefore, will
I, with all that fear thee, persist in. I will not give over, leave thee, or turn from thee, through my fears,
discouragements, and despondencies; but will abide constantly in the observation of the worship which
thou hast prescribed, and the performance of the obedience which thou dost require, having great
encouragements so to do.
Verse 5.—And herein, upon the account of the forgiveness that is with thee, O Lord, do I wait with all
patience, quietness, and perseverance. In this work is my whole soul engaged, even in an earnest
expectation of thy approach unto me in a way of grace and mercy. And for my encouragement therein
hast thou given out unto me a blessed word of grace, a faithful word of promise, whereon my hope is
fixed.
Verse 6.—Yea, in the performance and discharge of this duty, my soul is intent upon thee, and in its
whole frame turned towards thee, and that with such diligence and watchfulness in looking out after
every way and means of thy appearance, of the manifestation of thyself, and coming unto me, that I
excel therein those who, with longing desire, heedfulness, and earnest expectation, do wait and watch
for the appearance of the morning; and that either that they may rest from their night watches, or have
light for the duties of thy worship in the temple, which they are most delighted in.
Verses 7, 8.—Herein have I found that rest, peace, and satisfaction unto my own soul, that I cannot but
invite and encourage others in the like condition to take the same course with me. Let, then, all the
Israel of God, all that fear him, learn this of me, and from my experience. Be not hasty in your
distresses, despond not, despair not, turn not aside unto other remedies; but hope in the Lord: for I can
now, in an especial manner, give testimony unto this, that there is mercy with him suited unto your
relief. Yea, whatever your distress be, the redemption that is with him is so bounteous, plenteous, and
unsearchable, that the undoubted issue of your performance of this duty will be, that you shall be
delivered from the guilt of all your sins and the perplexities of all your troubles.
———
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE WHOLE PSALM
THE design of the Holy Ghost in this psalm is to express, in the experience of the psalmist and the
working of his faith, the state and condition of a soul greatly in itself perplexed, relieved on the
account of grace, and acting itself towards God and his saints suitably to the discovery of that grace
unto him;—a great design, and full of great instruction.
And this general prospect gives us the parts and scope of the whole psalm; for we have,—
I. The state and condition of the soul therein represented, with his deportment in and under that state
and condition, in verses 1, 2:—
"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications."
II. His inquiry after relief. And therein are two things that present themselves unto him; the one
whereof, which first offers the consideration of itself to him in his distress, he deprecates, verse 3:—
"If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"
The other he closeth withal, and finds relief in it and supportment by it, verse 4:—
"But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." Upon this, his discovery and fixing on
relief, there is the acting of his faith and the deportment of his whole person:—
1. Towards God, verses 5, 6:—
"I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more
than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning."
2. Towards the saints, verses 7, 8:—
"Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous
redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."
All which parts, and the various concernments of them, must be opened severally.
And this also gives an account of what is my design from and upon the words of this psalm,—namely,
to declare the perplexed entanglements which may befall a gracious soul, such a one as this psalmist
was, with the nature and proper workings of faith in such a condition; principally aiming at what it is
that gives a soul relief and supportment in, and afterward deliverance from, such a perplexed estate.
The Lord in mercy dispose of these meditations in such a way and manner as that both he that writes
and they that read may be made partakers of the benefit, relief, and consolation intended for his saints
in this psalm by the Holy Ghost!
———
VERSES FIRST AND SECOND
The state and condition of the soul represented in the psalm—The two first verses opened.
THE state and condition of the soul here represented as the basis on which the process of the psalm is
built, with its deportment, or the general acting of its faith in that state, is expressed in the two first
verses:—
"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications."
1. The present state of the soul under consideration is included in that expression, "Out of the depths."
Some of the ancients, as Chrysostom, suppose this expression to relate unto the depths of the heart of
the psalmist: Τί ἐστιν ἐυ βαθἐων· not from the mouth or tongue only, ἀλλʼ ἀπὀ καρδίας βαθυτάτης,—
"but from the depth and bottom of the heart;" ἐξ αὐτῶν τῆς διανοίας τῶν βάθρων, "from the deepest
recesses of the mind."
And, indeed, the word is used to express the depths of the hearts of men, but utterly in another sense:
Ps. 64:6, "The heart is deep."
But the obvious sense of the place, and the constant use of the word, will not admit of this
interpretation: "E profundis;" from קמַ עָ , "profundus fuit," is םיקִּ מַ צֲ מַ in the plural number,
"profunditates," or "depths." It is commonly used for valleys, or any deep places whatever, but
especially of waters. Valleys and deep places, because of their darkness and solitariness, are accounted
places of horror, helplessness, and trouble: Ps. 23:4, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death;" that is, in the extremity of danger and trouble.
The moral use of the word, as expressing the state and condition of the souls of men, is metaphorical.
These depths, then, are difficulties or pressures, attended with fear, horror, danger, and trouble.
And they are of two sorts:—
1. Providential, in respect of outward distresses, calamities, and afflictions: Ps. 69:1, 2, "Save me, O
God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I stick in the mire of the deep, and there is no standing. I
am come, סיִּמַ ־יבֵּ מַ צֲ מַ בְ , into the depths of waters, and the flood overflows me." It is trouble, and the
extremity of it, that the psalmist complains of, and which he thus expresseth. He was brought by it into
a condition like unto a man ready to be drowned, being cast into the bottom of deep and miry waters,
where he had no firm foundation to stand upon, nor ability to come out; as he farther explains himself,
verse 15.
2. There are internal depths,—depths of conscience upon the account of sin: Ps. 88:6, "Thou hast laid
me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps." What he intends by this expression, the psalmist
declares in the next words, verse 7, "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me." Sense of God's wrath upon his
conscience upon the account of sin, was the deep he was cast into. So, verse 15, speaking of the same
matter, saith he, "I suffer thy terrors;" and verse 16, "Thy fierce wrath goeth over me;" which he calls
water, waves, and deeps, according to the metaphor before opened.
And these are the deeps that are here principally intended. "Clamat sub molibus et fluctibus iniquitatem
suarum," says Austin on the place;—"He cries out under the weight and waves of his sins."
This the ensuing psalm makes evident. Desiring to be delivered from these depths out of which he
cried, he deals with God wholly about mercy and forgiveness; and it is sin alone from which
forgiveness is a deliverance. The doctrine, also, that he preacheth upon his delivery is that of mercy,
grace, and redemption, as is manifest from the close of the psalm; and what we have deliverance by is
most upon our hearts when we are delivered.
It is true, indeed, that these deeps do oftentimes concur; as David speaks, "Deep calleth unto deep," Ps.
42:7. The deeps of affliction awaken the conscience to a deep sense of sin. But sin is the disease,
affliction only a symptom of it: and in attending a cure, the disease itself is principally to be heeded;
the symptom will follow or depart of itself.
Many interpreters think that this was now David's condition. By great trouble and distress he was
greatly minded of sin; and we must not, therefore, wholly pass over that intendment of the word,
though we are chiefly to respect that which he himself, in this address unto God, did principally regard.
This, in general, is the state and condition of the soul managed in this psalm, and is as the key to the
ensuing discourse, or the hinge on which it turns. As to my intendment from the psalm, that which
ariseth from hence may be comprised in these two propositions:—
1. Gracious souls, after much communion with God, may be brought into inextricable depths and
entanglements on the account of sin; for such the psalmist here expresseth his own condition to have
been, and such he was.
2. The inward root of outward distresses is principally to be attended in all pressing trials;—sin, in
afflictions.
———
Gracious souls may be brought into depths on the account of sin—What those depths are.
BEFORE I proceed at all in the farther opening of the words, they having all of them respect unto the
proposition first laid down, I shall explain and confirm the truth contained in it; that so it may be
understood what we say, and whereof we do affirm, in the whole process of our discourse.
It is a sad truth that we have proposed unto consideration. He that hears it ought to tremble in himself,
that he may rest in the day of trouble. It speaks out the apostle's advice, Rom. 11:20, "Be not high-
minded, but fear;" and that also, 1 Cor. 10:12, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
When Peter had learned this truth by woful experience, after all his boldness and frowardness, he gives
this counsel to all saints, "That they would pass the time of their sojourning here in fear," 1 Pet. 1:17;
knowing how near, in our greatest peace and serenity, evil and danger may lie at the door.
Description:substance of the discourses which he preached on his recovery from affliction, under the influence of enlivened faith in the mediation of Christ. We cannot wonder that the particular verse which had proved to Owen a spring of refreshment in a weary place, should receive prominent and prolonged.
