About the "reset"

I started to process, for my own benefit, Communion with God, using the "IEW" method, but it just wasn't working for me. So I "hit the reset" on it

People with reading disabilities should be able to have access to meaningful texts. I've self-published a book of Aesop's Fables that have been brought into alignment with the program that I use for tutoring, and I'm working on another.

I have decided to tackle a huge project - Communion With God.

Problems with the text

John Owen is difficult for me - there is archaic language, odd sentence structure, and complex words. Two of the "readability factors" are the number of words in a sentence, and the number of sentences that use the "passive voice". Owens loses on both.

Owen loves run on sentences and paragraphs that last for several pages.

He sometimes doesn't just say what he wants to say, he alludes to what he wants to say and then says it three sentences later.

Snippet of the Day

The manifestation of grace and pardoning mercy, which is the only door of entrance into any such communion, is not committed unto any but unto him alone in whom it is, by whom that grace and mercy was purchased, through whom it is dispensed, who reveals it from the bosom of the Father. Hence this communion and fellowship with God is not in express terms mentioned in the Old Testament. The thing itself is found there; but the clear light of it, and the boldness of faith in it, is discovered in the gospel, and by the Spirit administered therein.

Communion With God, John Owen, page 15.

The words I have the most problem with are manifestation (sounds like a ghost), dispensation (sounds like the rapture and tribulation) and administered (sounds like a school principal).

All of these words have a modern meaning and then they have the meaning that Owen used.

Owen is saying is that the saints of the Old Testament didn't enjoy the clear fellowship and full communion with God. Jesus had not yet been made incarnate and the church had not yet been given the Holy Spirit.

Communion and fellowship are there (in the Old Testament saints) but they are not clear and bold. This boldness and clear access to God is discovered in the gospel and it is shown to us by the Holy Spirit.

My writing above is a paraphrase, not a decoding.

The decoded version:

The only path into communion with God comes by the gift of grace and forgiving mercy. This gift is not given to everyone, but only those who whom grace and mercy are purchased. They come through Jesus Christ - the One the gifts flow through, and through the Holy Spirit - the One who reveals it from the heart of the Father.

This communion and fellowship with God is not found in plain terms in the Old Testament. Communion and fellowship are found there, but the clear language of them, and the boldness of faith are both discovered in the gospel and by the Spirit delivered in that gospel.