John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers; the Necessity, Nature, and Means of It; with Resolution of Sundry Cases of Conscience Thereunto Belonging

In The Works of John Owen, vol. 6, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1967, pgs. 1-86.

Summary: John Owen (1616-1683) is the prince of Puritans. His works are often dense, but decidedly evangelical and desire “universal obedience” to our Lord Jesus. Of the Mortification of Sin is a wholesome, practical, and academically sound consideration and development of the biblical doctrine of the mortification of sin.

Owen presents the argument from Romans 8:13, “If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live,” that “The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin” (7).

This is necessary because while saving grace can never die, sanctifying grace must be renewed through the means of grace. “The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.” (9).

He argues the following: we are told several things in Scripture which indicate that sanctifying grace must be renewed. The first is 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” And then 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

These verses inform us that while our salvation is complete (Rom. 8:1), our sanctification is one of gaining, not grace as an object, but grace as an effect of walking with the Spirit of God, and from 2 Corinthians 4:15, Owen speaks of “renewing grace” (47).

Grace in the Reformed view is the activity of the Spirit of God, and whole salvation is monergistic, sanctification requires active cooperation. Thus, “by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body.”

The war is against the residual flesh or the power of indwelling sins are “the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1 Pet. 2:11). Christians by not mortifying sin, suppress the Spirit, quench his work, and walk contrary to him. And in so doing, empowers sin. The person who is fully given over to sin was never saved, but the born-again believer entangled in the trap of sin declines both in his power and peace.

Fundamental to the Christian walk is the Spirit’s power and peace or strength and comfort:

Strength and comfort, and power and peach, in our walking with God, are the things of our desires. Were any of us asked seriously what it is that troubles us, we must refer it to one of these heads:—either we want strength or power, vigour and life in our obedience, in our walking with God; or we want peace, comfort, and consolation therein. . . . Now, all these do much depend on a constant course of mortification (21).

The spiritual things that we most need are most threatened by allowing indwelling sin within our hearts. Further, the Bible speaks of grace dying, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” (Rev. 3:2). For those not born again drawing grace is stops prior to regeneration, but for the believer the sanctifying grace may grow desperately weaker until he repents and turns again to Jesus.

Owen then goes on and works through the practical means by which we mortify sin by giving us nine directions. (1.) Consider the dangerous symptoms of any lust. (2.) Get a clear sense of the guilt of sin, the danger of judicial hardening, temporal correction, loss of peace and strength, and the evil of grieving the Spirit, wounding yourself, losing your usefulness. (3.) Load the conscience with guilt. (4.) Striver for a vehement desire for deliverance. (5.) Consider the weakness of your natural temperament. (6.) Work to limit the occasions and advantages of the sin. (7.) Attack the sin in the first movements. (8.) Think on the excellency and majesty of God. (9.) Find your peace only in agreement with God’s word.

Even with these suggestions Owen argues that work of mortifying must be acting on faith in Christ through cooperation with the Spirit.

“Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls” (79). We achieve this by considering “the provision which is laid up in Jesus Christ” (Ibid.) by prayerfully expecting relief from our sin and help from Christ.

In so doing we must “Act faith peculiarly upon the death, the death blood, and cross of Christ, that is on Christ as crucified and slain. Mortification of sin is peculiarly from the death of Christ” (83). Our Lord Jesus died to destroy sin, and so it is an especial concern for him. We then “act faith on the death of Christ, and that under these two notions,—first, In expectation of power; secondly, In endeavours for conformity” (85).

Finally, we must so act in reliance on the Spirit of God, because the Spirit “clearly and fully convinces the heart of evil,” (85). “The Spirit alone reveals unto us the fullness of Christ for our relief. . .The Spirit alone reveals unto us the fullness of Christ for our relief. . .The Spirit alone establishes the heart in expectation of relief from Christ. . . The Spirit alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin-killing power; for by the Spirit we are baptized into the death of Christ. . .The Spirit is the author and finisher of our sanctification; gives new supplies and influences of grace for holiness and sanctification, when the contrary principle is weakened and abated. . . [And] in all the soul’s address to God in this condition, it hath the supportment from the Spirit” (86).

Detriments: Owen is strong spiritual and academic tea. He cannot be skimmed and his vocabulary is arcane. While I agree strongly with his conclusions on the importance of universal obedience as the intended outcome of our sanctification and his means of mortification, if you find yourself overwhelmed by the spiritual burdens suggested by Owen, by all means read Luther.

Benefits: This is the biblical way of personal sanctification. The way is narrow, the air bracing, the struggle real. O but to join our Christ in “the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

“Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you” (9).