Some time ago I had some criticism about my book, Winning the War Within, in which it was alleged that no one had ever held such a maverick belief as the one that I set forth—that the sin remaining in a believer was habitual. One blogger recently referred to my view as “unique.” Thumbing through W.G.T. Shedd’s Commentary on Romans, (W.G.T. Shedd, Commentary on Romans, reprinted by Klock & Klock 1987 from the 1878 edition) I couldn’t help but notice that what I said was not really unique, as has been claimed by my detractors. While I’m not about to argue the case in this blog, I would like to note by a few scattered quotations that the view was held by John Owen and G.T.C. Shedd back in 1879, which, surely, means that it’s not a Johnnie-come-lately belief, as has been averred.
To begin, then, let me simply set forth a few lines from John Owen as he is quoted in Shedd. Here is the first, “This remaining corruption,” Owen asserts, “is sin in the heart with a constant habitual propensity unto evil.” Shedd approvingly comments, “This remaining corruption . . . Owen asserts to be of the nature
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