Today we continue reading the classics together by turning to the fifth chapter of John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. If you’d like to know more about this project, you can read about it right here: Reading Classics Together.
This is the first chapter in the book’s section—a section that turns the focus from introductory materials to “the nature of mortification.” In this portion of the book he will answer this question: “Suppose a man to be a true believer, and yet finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin, leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace, and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin, what shall he do? What course shall he take and insist on for the mortification of this sin, lust, distemper, or corruption, to such a degree as that, though it be not utterly destroyed, yet, in his contest with it, he may be enabled to keep up power, strength, and peace in communion with God?”
Through the coming chapters, he will approach it in this form:
- Show what it is to mortify any sin, and that both negatively and positively, that we be not mistaken in the foundation.
- Give general directions for such things as without which it will be utterly impossible for anyone to get any sin truly and spiritually mortified.
- Draw out the particulars whereby this is to be done.
In this chapter, chapter 5, he looks at the negative aspect of the first point, seeking to teach “what mortification is not.”
Summary
The chapter follows this outline:
- Mortification is not the utter destruction and death of sin
- Mortification is not the dissimulation of a sin
- Mortification is not the improvement of a quiet, sedate nature
- Mortification is not the diversion of sin
- Mortification is not just occasional conquests over sin
Discussion
I was glad to see in last week’s discussion that many people found more benefit in the chapter than I did. It’s strange how these things work. Though I certainly did not dislike the chapter, I found it perhaps just a bit lacking compared to the ones preceding it. So I was glad to find myself feasting again this week as I read the opening chapter of the heart of the book.
In this chapter Owen describes what mortification of sin is not, certainly an important thing to know for anyone who wishes to be serious about destroying indwelling sin. With hearts that are deceitful and desperately wicked, it makes good sense that we would accept all manner of substitutes for the genuine work of mortification. Yet all the while, our sin would not be truly mortified, but would instead go into hibernation for a while before reappearing and working its evil once again.
Owen offered five things we may confuse with mortification. Of these, two stood out to me above the others. The first is that we are prone to divert our sin rather than dealing with it properly. In other words, we may see a sin in our lives and guard against allowing it to erupt in a particular form, yet all the while we allow it to erupt in a different, more subtle form. I thought here of Jerry Bridge’s book Respectable Sins and had to agree that we can channel one sin into another, perhaps allowing a sin that is overt to become one that is somehow more respectable in our eyes. I was struck by his description of old men who see certain lusts of youth fall away. I have known men who wished to be old so they could escape lusts that have plagued them, convinced that old age would bring respite. Yet, if Owen is correct here, those sins, if not dealt with now, will simply morph into other sins with the onset of old age. “He has changed his master, but is a servant still.”
The second point that jumped out to me was that mortification is not just occasional conquests over sin. In this case I did not understand “occasional” as meaning “every now and again” as much as “at particular occasions.” We have all experienced “eruptions” of sin that have scared us. Perhaps we have exploded in temper and been terrified by the violence we committed (or very nearly committed) and vowed to stay in control the next time. Or perhaps we have allowed a lust to lead us to a point where we very nearly committed a grave sin. In these cases our natural temptation is to castigate ourselves and to abhor our sin. But we can too easily allow abhorrence to take the place of true mortification. We can take comfort in our own disgust of sin. Owen’s descriptive metaphor is well worth reading again:
The whole man, spiritual and natural, being now awakened, sin shrinks in its head, appears not, but lies as dead before him: as when one that has drawn nigh to an army in the night, and has killed a principal person—instantly the guards awake, men are roused up, and strict inquiry is made after the enemy, who, in the meantime, until the noise and tumult be over, hides himself, or lies like one that is dead, yet with firm resolution to do the like mischief again upon the like opportunity. … So it is in a person when a breach has been made upon his conscience, quiet, perhaps credit, by his lust, in some eruption of actual sin—carefulness, indignation, desire, fear, revenge, are all set on work about it and against it, and lust is quiet for a season, being run down before them; but when the hurry is over and the inquest past, the thief appears again alive, and is as busy as ever at his work.
This speaks of the necessity of true mortification and not some cheap and easy substitute. Any man can vow to avoid sin and can do so for a time through his own power. Only through the Spirit can we truly root out the sin that plagues us. Only in His power can it be truly put to death.
Next Time
Next Thursday we will continue with the sixth chapter of the book. Though we are now well into our study, it is not too late for you to join and you’ll find yourself only 25 or 30 pages behind.
Your Turn
I would like to know what you gained from this chapter. Feel free to post comments below or to write about this on your own blog (and then post a comment linking us to your thoughts). Do not feel that you need to say anything shocking or profound. Just share what stirred your heart or what gave you pause or what confused you. Let’s make sure we’re reading this book together. The comments on previous chapters have been great and have aided my enjoyment of the chapter. I trust this week will prove the same.
Comments (26) »
1. Chuck
December 13, 2007
10:41 AM
I especially liked the short section “mortification is not the dissimulation of sin.” How often are we caught in a sin, either by a friend or even ourselves, and we “change.” We haven’t changed, we simply cover it up. Classic example is a man who lusts after a woman and ends up having an affair with her. He’s caught, swears he will never do it again, and seems like a changed man. People praise him for changing when really he still lusts after her, he just doesn’t act on it, and is now a hypocrite. “He has got another heart than he had, that is more cunning; not a new heart, that is more holy.” What sin do we cover up? Sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, fits of rage, selfishness, dissensions, envy?
Try this: instead of discarding the above sins from Galatians 5, saying “I don’t have a problem with that one or that one,” rather find how you fit in to each one of them. Search your heart and realize that we all possess each one of them in the heart. We may not act on them or never have, but in some way or another, our nature possesses them. Don’t dissimulate, bring them to the light, to yourself, to other people.
2. don gale
December 13, 2007
11:58 AM
This week, I started really thinking about all of my sins, especially the ones that aren’t as evident as they used to be. I wondered if certain sins are truly mortified or if they’re just lying in the shadows, waiting for the ideal opportunity to reveal themselves. I wondered if the sins I currently struggle with are rooted in the sins I thought were overcome, or if the ones lying dormant were going to use the current sins as their “in”.
My former discipler taught/teaches that you can never count any sin out. “Don’t ever say that adultery is beyond you,” he would say, “because it is in fact only five poor decisions away.” He would say to picture yourself in a room with lots of doors. Each door, when opened by you or the devil/temptation leads to sin. So you have to watch all the doors. Some doors you might have to concentrate more on, but if you leave any door completely unwatched, temptation and sin could sneak up on you. The analogy eventually breaks down, but you get the point. This chapter made me think of that analogy. The thing that excites me is that through the Spirit, there is a way to pound the vigor and life out of these sins. There’s a way to make my flesh my slave. It starts with identifying your sin and where its roots lie. I also agree with Chuck about being open with yourself and others. That’s really hard for me sometimes, but it’s necessary to this work.
3. Jerry
December 13, 2007
12:10 PM
Two things:
Owen’s holding up the Apostle Paul was an excellent reminder that perfection is yet to come.
Now that Owen has told us what mortification is not (the negative), I look forward to his description in the next chapter of what it is (the positive).
4. Marilyn B.
December 13, 2007
12:15 PM
My thought for this chapter is very short. The whole of Psalm 78 is a history of God’s people rebelling, receiving punishment and returning to God. Owen quotes verses 32-37, a good summary of the Psalm.
I think the verses that follow Owen’s quote (vs. 38-42) add important meaning:
“Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel”.
We will never successfully mortify any sin in our lives unless we have a good sense of the holiness of God against which to contrast our sinful nature. Without that we done as Owen’s sinner;
“…to his former iniquity he has added cursed hypocrisy, and is now on a safer path to hell than he was before. He has got another heart than he had, that is more cunning; not a new heart, that is more holy”.
5. Marilyn B.
December 13, 2007
12:23 PM
Sorry for the typo…I meant to say “Without that we HAVE done as Owen’s sinner;”
6. Kevin S.
December 13, 2007
12:38 PM
I’m starting to blog (www.aclutteredmind.org) about my thoughts of each chapter, so I’ll just include a summary thought here:
The portion that stung my heart the most was that mortification is not just occasional conquests over sin. The season in which sin has some “sad eruption, to the disturbance of [my] peace” hit home. I’ll find a particular sin bothering me a great deal, stir up my fervency against it, bring it to God and cry out for deliverance. When it seems I’ve achieved some measure of victory over that sin, I’ll move on, thinking, “That’s that; glad that’s over.” I’m meeting with a young man in our church who announced that a specific sin he had wrestled with for years is now over. I reminded him, by way of Owen and my own personal experience, that, to borrow the words of that great theologian/philosopher, John Rambo, “Nothin’s Over!”
May God through His Holy Spirit grant us the persevering strength to keep on killing sin.
7. Jeri
December 13, 2007
12:41 PM
What Owen has to say about the diversion of sin stood out to me, too, and it not only makes sense; it has certainly been my experience, as has the “occasional” conquest of sin (that word needed a footnote too; thanks Tim!) Now that I see it, how could I have thought that age, or a “judgment, calamity, or pressing affliction” could have rooted out and mortified sin in my life? Sin did just as Owen describes…laid low and waited for the smoke to clear. What a blessing, though, to begin to learn this.
I also appreciated reading that “…but God sees it best for us that we should be complete in nothing but ourselves, that in all things we must be “complete in Christ,” which is best for us.”
8. Leslie
December 13, 2007
12:58 PM
Though an understanding what mortification is NOT can help us clarify what it is, I can’t wait to get into the details of what mortification IS!
The parts that stood out to me most have already been mentioned. I’ll just add that Owen’s few pages of what mortification is not refutes many of the best-sellers in the “Christian” bookstore today.
9. Jacob Douvier
December 13, 2007
2:50 PM
I think I have been regarding my response to an “eruption” of sin as mortification. Owen helped me see why it’s not. I am also looking forward to the next chapter.
10. David
December 13, 2007
3:31 PM
Jacob stole my thunder. Sorry, my sinful pride “erupting” yet again. I was so convicted about my attitude toward sin. To think that overcoming a temptation one day is tantamount to overcoming the full nature of sin is ludicrous and yet how often do I act just like that. I am going to go and read this chapter a few more times, I see too much of myself in it.
Grace and Peace.
11. Robert Weir
December 13, 2007
5:51 PM
I am looking forward to what it is exactly to mortify sin, in chapter six. For I too see that sin has a way of just going undercover. You push it’s ugly head down and it pops up again in some otherplace. Perservere………………….
12. Loren
December 13, 2007
5:56 PM
In this week’s expedition through Chapter 5, the Psalm Owen quotes was a particularly good word of exhortation.
“when the anger of God flared up against them. He killed some of the strongest of them; he brought the young men of Israel to their knees. Despite all this, they continued to sin, and did not trust him to do amazing things. So he caused them to die unsatisfied and filled with terror. When he struck them down, they sought his favor; they turned back and longed for God. They remembered that God was their protector, and that the sovereign God was their deliverer. But they deceived him with their words, and lied to him. They were not really committed to him, and they were unfaithful to his covenant.”
I have in the past “bargained” with God that if he would only get me through a calamity or pressing affliction I would deal with a particular sin. But, as Owen points out this no way to deal with sin at all. After the difficulty passes the sin returns and then some. In any event, this kind of thinking/motivation is self-serving more clearly connected to seeking relief from the calamity (my comfort) as opposed to obeying and pleasing God by mortifying sin through the power of the Spirit.
The Spirit I think also reminded me what I really want to come away with after reading Owen’s book. I don’t want to look back a year from now and say, “Despite having more information by reading Owen’s excellent teaching and clear steps toward mortifying sin, I continued make no progress in mortification and did not trust [God] to do amazing things”.
13. Richard
December 13, 2007
8:15 PM
Guess I was in the minority last week, I found chapter 4 to be the most personally provoking to date. I’ve added my comments to the discussion there.
Chapter 5 speaks right to the heart of the battle my weekly men’s group has been engaged in for the past 14 years. We began as a group of Brothers in Christ who desired to fight sexual sin. Several of us had experienced more flagrant “eruptions” than others and at first we all were looking for victory in this area. We saw our sin as primarily a hindrance to other things such as good marriage, spirituality, ministry, blessings, etc.. In our immaturity we tried all the things Owen identifies in this chapter as what “mortification is not.” O how I wish I had known about John Owen back then. God has been faithful and he has taught us by experience and practice that sin will not be utterly destroyed and killed in this life, that simply changed behavior doesn’t mean heart change, and that we may not be inclined toward a particular manifestation of sin but we harbor and give nourishment to the root of that same sin in “Christianly” acceptable ways.
Our biggest battle though, has been with the last two points of this chapter, “diversion” and “occasional conquests.” Diversion, we have called “substitute sins,” Sin wants it’s control over me much more than it cares how it gets it. Sins that are acceptable to the church, or to my wife even, will do just fine. Sadly, we have seen many brothers leave our group thinking they have victory when all they have done is retrain their habits in the practice of diversionary sins that were more “acceptable.” Thank God for Jerry Bridges new book, “Respectable Sins.”
Probably, the most obvious (In our group at least, over the last 14 years.) has been the mistaking of “occasional conquests” for mortification. Dozens of times we have had brothers leave the group thinking they have victory because they haven’t been on an internet porn site or bought a magazine for a year (or whatever), and within weeks of claiming victory they came back in tears over another “eruption.”
I am brought back to that statement in Chapter 1, “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”
Leslie,
You are absolutely right about the bestsellers in Christian bookstores! We went through a stack of books by well-meaning Christian authors (Big name, bestselling guys) before God in his mercy showed us the truth about battling sin. I had heard seasoned saints refer to John Owen’s “Overcoming Sin and Temptation” and say it was the best thing written on the subject, but I just couldn’t get into it. Now that I am spending the time to read it and have the help of this forum, I’d trade them all for this book we’re currently reading.
Thank you Tim, for your initiative.
14. Mike Leake
December 13, 2007
8:37 PM
I found points 1, 4, and 5 especially good. I found the first point both discouraging (that sin will not be fully defeated) yet encouraging (that I’m not the only one struggling). The fourth point is also convicting. Owen has spoken before about sin merely being diverted but it still packs a punch. The last point, where Owen spends most his time, also penetrates my heart. How often have I thought that sin had been mortified only to find out that it was only hiding. So frustrating. You can find all of my thoughts here. You will also find a John Newton hymn/poem that is very fitting to this chapter.
Also I have one question. How do you think we go about discovering these “hidden” sins? I figure searching them out might get the focus in the wrong spot. If my eyes are always on myself and my own falleness then they are taken off Jesus. Perhaps the answer is to look to Jesus while I am going after these hidden sins, and once discovered take them to the Cross. Should we wait on the Holy Spirit to reveal them to us or actively search them out? What are your thoughts?
15. Mike Leake
December 13, 2007
8:40 PM
Loren said,
“Despite having more information by reading Owen’s excellent teaching and clear steps toward mortifying sin, I continued make no progress in mortification and did not trust [God] to do amazing things”.
Loren, Great statement and reminder. Thank you for that! I can really struggle with living life “in theory.”
16. Elizabeth K
December 13, 2007
11:16 PM
As I thought about this chapter, I could not help but go to 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
Whenever I feel pride in overcoming any sin, I sin; so I have to give the glory to God for any “success” I ever experience.
17. donsands
December 14, 2007
7:50 AM
“Only through the Spirit can we truly root out the sin that plagues us.”
Amen.
Owen writes with words like no other Christian scholar that I have read. He’s difficult to grasp for me, and yet he puts teeth to his words, so that they bite deep into the soul.
The battle against sin can have one encouraging quality, and that is the fact that us hating sin and battling it, is evidence we are authentic friends of Christ.
Looking forward to next week.
Blessings to you on this Lord’s Day.
18. Chuck
December 14, 2007
8:31 AM
“…and they may seem to themselves and others very mortified men, when, perhaps, their hearts are a
standing sink of all abominations.”
This is terrific language. My first exposure to Owen was an audio recording of this book and I remember this particular phrase over the rest. Perhaps it was the way the reader said it, but I have never heard another writer use it. A standing sink of all abominations may appear innoccuous but can be very harmful to consume and dwell in. This is a great description of the human heart.
Revisiting chapter two, another memorable line is, “Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who doth not kill sin in his way takes no steps towards his journey’s end.”
Because we sometimes don’t detect the power of sin at work we are lulled into believing that all it well with our souls and it is safe to withold a necessary blow to our enemy within.
19. Ben G
December 14, 2007
2:19 PM
I found a comfort and a warning in this chapter.
The comfort was point 1: Mortification is not the utter destruction and death of sin. I am comforted by this in the sense that I can steel myself up for the long fight against sin in this life, and hope for righteousness in the next life.
The warning was point 5: Mortification is not just occasional conquests over sin. I am given to thinking that I can prevail if I just try harder, or if I just get a few victories. No, this fight will go on for the rest of my life. Somebody wiser than I once said “life is a marathon, not a sprint.”
20. Kwame Nyarko
December 15, 2007
2:07 PM
Like Ben G and others quoted
“mortification is not the utter destruction and death of sin.”
However, through the working of the Spirit, we are to desire, aim, work and labor after this feat that is impossible in this life so that sin “should leave neither root nor fruit in the heart or life.”
Paul encourages us all to run that we may obtain the incorruptible crown!!
May we pray for Grace to do this diligently!! Amen!
21. Scott D. Andersen
December 15, 2007
10:30 PM
I’m not sure if I understand what this sentence means, “Let them bring themselves to self-denial, unbelief, envy, or some such spiritual sin, and they will have a better view of themselves.” unless “self-denial” is not included in the phrase “or some such spiritual sin” that is, is Owen saying, “self-denial” will help us discover where we are truly unmortified, as will examiing where our unbelief lies, of how we envy, etc.
Any clarification would be appreciated.
Probably the segment from this chapter that cut into me most deeply was that headed up, Mortification is not an occasional conquest over sin. Especially with reference to noting the exercise of sin which causes us the dread of scandal, and thereby we cry and abhor etc for a temporary conquest. Pride kills.
I love the mention above how Owen displaces the many modern books we might find. Reading Owen and other books of like depth and caliber ruins us for much that is written in our more modern times. And ruins us for our good.
Much thanks also to Loren who wrote above, , “Despite having more information by reading Owen’s excellent teaching and clear steps toward mortifying sin, I continued make no progress in mortification and did not trust [God] to do amazing things”. This has been my concern from the beginning of this project. I really want to learn and change and grow as we continue to read through this book together. I don’t want to discover a year from now that I have not grown in the discipline of mortification through the Spirit. Reminds me of something I read a long time ago regarding A. W. Tozer who feared he would get to heaven and discover he needlessly lived a pauper here when there was so much of God’s grace than he ever experienced due to his own lack of diligence.
sda
22. Thomas Sullivan
December 16, 2007
9:44 AM
Scott: As to your question: I’m not sure if I understand what this sentence means, “Let them bring themselves to self-denial, unbelief, envy, or some such spiritual sin, and they will have a better view of themselves.” He is saying that persons with a natural sedate or calm temperament may appear to themselves and others to be truly humble, Christ like persons. But if they are tempted to these other sins, they will see that there is still a powerful tendency in them to manifest their still unmortified indwelling sin. Moses was said to be the meekest man on the face of the earth, and doubtless he was. But even Moses had his breaking point when tested by the recalcitrant Israelites with murmuring, so he lost his temper and smote the rock. What is so interesting about Owen’s directions is all other chapters except the last are preparatory to mortifying of sin. It is only in Chapter 14 that the remedy itself is applied. This is a typical Puritan method. The healing balm is not applied until the festering wound is probed to the cure. As I am working through Owen’s treatise again, I am also narrating the same subject for www.sermonaudio.com from John Flavel’s book, “The Method of Grace.” Chapters 27 and 28 on the Mortification of Sin and the Crucifying of the Flesh. The frightening words of John Flavel are here.. “It is true, if all that seem to be meek and heavenly might pass for Christians, the number would be great; but if none must be accounted Christians but those who crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, Oh how small is the number.” sobering words.
23. Thomas Sullivan
December 16, 2007
9:56 AM
I want to share another quote from an excellent Puritan that is another illustration of the mortification of sin. William Gurnall wrote in 1662, “Soul, take thy lust, thy only lust, which is the child of thy dearest love, thy Isaac, the sin which has caused thee most joy and laughter, from which thou hast promised thyself the greatest pleasure or profit; as ever thou lookest to see My face with comfort, lay hands on it and offer it up; pour out the blood of it before Me; run the sacrificing knife of mortification into the very heart of it, And that freely, joyfully, for it is no pleasing sacrafice that is offered with a countenance cast down - and all this now before thou hast one more embrace from it.” … our lust will not lie so patiently on the altar, as Isaac, or as the Lamb that is brought to the slaughter which was dumb, but will roar and shriek; yea, even shake and rend the heart with its hideous outcries.”
24. Richard
December 16, 2007
1:11 PM
Scott, thank you for looking hard at the phrase: “Let them bring themselves to self-denial, unbelief …“ With your question I went back and looked hard, asking what Owen meant.
I have to confess that before your question I was guilty of reading it “as it sounded to me” without thinking hard about Owen’s intent. How postmodern of me! Anyway what I heard was: If a man is measuring his success at mortification by the evidence of sins that he is not naturally inclined toward and thinks that he is doing well, let him take a look at how well he is doing in such things as self-denial, how is his battle against unbelief, envy, or some other spiritual sin that his natural inclinations are of no help. Now that is taking a lot of liberty in my interpretation. I inserted a shift from what I think is a positive spiritual discipline that could reveal the need of mortification to a listing of sins that would also reveal need of mortification.
I’m now asking, what DID Owen mean? I’m wondering if there is something I missed, So far in this read I’m finding that Owen has many layers of meaning far deeper than what I see on my first pass. I too would welcome any other thoughts.
RG
25. Bill Petruzzo
December 16, 2007
2:24 PM
I posted my thoughts in my blog here:
petruzzo.wordpress.com
I think that going through this book like this is challenging almost all of my thinking. I’m reading it along side another book, The Sinfulness of Sin by Ralph Venning and the two are playing off each other so well. Let’s keep trucking! :)
26. Chuck Randall
December 16, 2007
6:17 PM
On the heels of comments posted by Scott and Richard above regarding the sentences:
“Let not such persons try their mortification by such things as their natural temper gives no life or vigour to. Let them bring themselves to self-denial, unbelief, envy, or some such spiritual sin, and they will have a better view of themselves.”
I think he is simply saying, agreeing with Richard, to examine how we are doing in the area of self denial, he is not saying that self denial is a spiritual sin but it is an area of life in which we all struggle daily. All believers struggle with self denial, unbelief and envy. It sounds like he is saying if you think you’re doing fine against your sin just because you are not interested in a particular lust and other men are, then try these serious issues which are hidden and common to all and you will see how far you have to go in your efforts towards holiness.