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Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Chapter 1)
- 11/15/07
- 55
“Put to death the deeds of the body…”
Today is the first day of the second round of Reading the Classics Together. Having enjoyed J.C. Ryle’s Holiness over a period of eight weeks, we are ready to move on to the next book. Between comments, email, and face-to-face interaction, I think I can safely say that at least several hundred people have indicated an interest in joining in this effort as we read 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.
Reading John Owen is no simple task. He is difficult to read, in the first place, because of stylistic issues. Though the book has stood up well over the 350 years since its publication, it does feel foreign and antiquated in many regards. There is work to be done to make the transition between the old English and the new. Owen is difficult to read in the second place because of the density of his material. His writing is not short on length or on breadth. More than any other author I’ve read, Owen requires careful, slow reading. I read even just this short chapter three times before I really felt that I understood it. Having said all of that, I did not find reading this text onerous. I wanted to read the text carefully and to ensure that I understood Owen. And I wanted to do this because of the long line of godly men and women who have said that this book has challenged them like no other. If it has meant so much to so many of my heroes, I am going to put my hand to the plow and ensure that I learn from it too.
I am going to offer a short summary of the chapter and a couple of brief reflections. At that point I’ll ask that you feel free to post your own questions, comments or reflections.
Summary
The first chapter is an exposition of Romans 8:13 (which I’ll provide in the ESV): “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Owen structures the exposition around five points:
- A duty prescribed: “Mortify the deeds of the body.” He shows that “the body” refers to the corruption and depravity of our natures; he shows that the deeds that must be mortified are primarily the inward causes, the “roots” of sin; and he shows that to mortify is to kill something—to have its power, life, vigor and strength to produce its effects taken away.
- The persons denoted to whom it is prescribed: “You”—“if you mortify.” He proves here that “you” refers only to believers—to those in whom the Spirit dwells.
- A promise annexed to that duty: “You shall live.” Owen shows that this does not refer to justification, the life that believers have already been given, but to the joy, comfort and vigor of the Christian life.
- The cause or means of the performance of this duty—the Spirit: “If you through the Spirit.” In this section Owen shows that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that Christians can truly mortify sin.5.The conditionality of the whole proposition, wherein duty, means, and promise are contained: “If you,” etc. All that has been listed in the previous points is dependent on that little word “if.” Life is given only where a choice is made to mortify the deeds of the body.
Three times Owen comes to a conclusion (or thesis or proposition):
- 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.
- The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that is may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers.
- The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.
Discussion
There were two things that stood out to me in this chapter (or at least that stood out above the rest). The first was this statement: “Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.” We are able, of our own power, to put aside certain sins or to appear that we have escaped from them. But this must not be the same as truly mortifying them. If we are to mortify our sins through the Holy Spirit, sins that we attempt to deal with on our own must not be truly mortified. We may escape them for a time or make ourselves believe that we have left them behind. But if they are not truly mortified, they must still exist within, perhaps just waiting for opportunity to spring back. Assuming that Owen is correct, mortification from a self-strength is extremely dangerous and, as he says, the soul and substance of all of the world’s false religion. This shows how important it is to deal with sin properly and biblically.
The second point that stood out was the final sentence in the chapter. “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.” I couldn’t help but remark in the margin of my book how much this is at-odds with so much of what we see in the Christian world today. Very rarely will you find a Christian bestseller that hints at the idea that putting away our sin through the power of the Spirit is the key to vigor, power and comfort in our faith. At those times that I feel my faith is weak and at the times that I feel lifeless and powerless, perhaps the first place I should look, then, is to my own heart to see if there is sin there that I’ve refused to deal with—sin that I’ve refused to ask the Spirit to destroy. Mortification, it seems, is a choice. I need to make the choice to deal with my sin and need to make the choice to do so through the power of the Spirit.
Next Time
Next Thursday we will continue with the second chapter of the book. We have only just begun so there is still plenty of time for you to get the book and to read along.
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.
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Comments (55)
Tim, when I first began reading this chapter (i.e. book) I was overwhelmed by the idea that for so many years I had been trying to keep sin/temptation behind a closed door and it was a fierce beast trying to bust through.
Owen opened my eyes to the fact that I am to, in effect, open that door and slay the beast instead of keeping it at bay. This is the only way I will ever have a chance at life — otherwise, as Paul says, having not killed the flesh, I will die.
Thank you for doing this.
Hi Tim,Thanks for embarking us into this adventure. I have posted a few thoughts in my blog: http://isblueflame.blogspot.com/Now, one thing I get from this chapter is this: Owen suggests -notice he uses the word ‘perhaps’ -two reasons why believers ought to be killing sin in their lives:1) In order to avoid the danger of going to hell. This is implied when Owen refers to the firs part of Romans 8:13: “…’If you live after the flesh, you shall die’….Now, perhaps the word may not only intend eternal life”.2) In order to keep the vigor and joy of our spiritual life. This is implied in the next paragraph: “….Now, perhaps the word may not only intend eternal life, but also the spiritual life in Christ, which here we have; not as to the essence and being of it, which is already enjoyed by believers, but as to the joy, comfort, and vigor of it”.
It is funny that the same quotes that stood out to you stood out to me too!
If found this interesting: “The pressing of this duty immediately on any other is a notable fruit of that superstition and self-righteousness that the world is full of - the great work and design of devout men ignorant of the gospel.”
It seems there is a fine line between accountability and judging. It flows from the heart’s intentions and desire - discussed within “the deeds of the body” section - p.48.
Tim … I was relieved to find out that I was not alone in having read this chapter three times. But I want to quickly add that with each reading, I gained a clearer and deeper insight into what Owen was saying. The entire chapter overwhelmed me. I doubt I’ve ever heard it said quite this way before and it had a strong effect on me. What came across the most strongly, however, was his description of the meaning of to mortify. I’m sure I “knew” these words before and thought I’d absorbed them. But really, I don’t think I’ve ever seen how powerfully we need to deal with sin. How serious it is. These are the words that struck me:”To kill a man or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all his strength, vigor, and power, so that he cannot act or exert or put forth any proper actings of his own … Indwelling sin is compared to a person … with his faculties and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this … must be killed … that is, have its power, life, vigor, and strength to produce its effects taken away by the Spriit . . .”
“Slain by the cross of Christ,” is how Owen puts it. We can’t just not think about it. We can’t just say we’ll deal with it “tomorrow.” We can’t think of it as “just a little sin.” The monstrous nature of it demands it be slain, and that yet, on a daily basis. Thankfully, Owen also emphasizes that it can’t be done in our own strength, but we need the “prinicple efficient cause”—the Holy Spirit!
The phrase and emphasis on “Through the Spirit” struck me the most I think. First the fact that this is the duty of believers only and secondly that this is to be done thru the Spirit. This putting-to-death is not a work of self-improvement, self-help or self-will, but something which we must do through the means and working of the Holy Spirit. What dependency upon God this creates - Hallelujah to His Name.
Loved also Owen’s reference to the original language. I am creating a table in the back of the book of every reference to the original language mentioned and the page numbers on which they occur for future reference.
This is a great opportunity to look at a portion of our Christian life which is often neglected. See my comments here. http://crcpastorchad.blogspot.com/2007/11/overcoming-sin-and-temptation.html
One aspect I appreciated about Chapter 1 is how Owen slows me down to focus on Romans 8:13. What a spiritual feast in a single verse! Too often I am skimming or surfing through material at 100 mph but here, as I read this past week, I distinctly felt the need to stop at several points to re-read, wrestle and reflect on “processes” I have tried in attempting to deal with areas of sin in my life. In particular, I appreciated his phrase “All other ways [apart from the Spirit] of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit”. That struck a note with me. A sense of helplessness, apart from the Holy Spirit’s power, is a good starting point for me in this journey of mortification.
Good summary of the chapter. Owen’s is not easy to read, but is definitely worth the effort.
I find this topic very critical today, especially the warning about the self-strength in attempting to mortify the sin. Instead of actually killing the sin, we have only strengthened our flesh. While the sin may be hidden or dormant, it is like a parasite and gains strength as we gain strength. In our desire to kill it in our own efforts, all we have really done is given it a stronger life and a greater hold over us when it finally raises up again.
I am looking forward to seeing more of the practical ideas and disciplines that Owen’s will share in how to be part of mortifying the sin while only allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work.
Like Tim & Annette, I read this multiple times, too :). Perhaps Owen is best read, and re-read.
Owen’s great quotes are sobering:”Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work;be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work;be killing sin or it will be killing you.But, he helps us to see how the process of mortification is connected to the Gospel (the promise of eternal life - Rom.6:23) and exhorts us to lead fruitful lives as believers exhorts us (John 15:2 and 1 Cor. 9:27).
Like Scott, I was particularly struck by (and grateful for) the fact that the work of mortification is “through the Spirit.” I appreciate the connection between apprehending faith and the work of the Spirit.
I read Owen’s quote: Mortification from a self strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.
I re-read this quote, put in a table, and wanted to see what it would look like with a contrast in terms of Owen’s emphases on the work of the Spirit:Mortification from the Holy Spirit, carried on by ways of humbly following the Gospel (without inventing, reshaping, retooling or re-inventing), unto the end of true righteousness is the soul and substance of all true religion in the World.
Thanks Tim for providing a context for each of us to read, and (I trust) apply what we are learning! Thanks to each of you who posted, too. Look forward to reading more with you.
I was challenged - in a good way - by this chapter, and I appreciate Tim’s work to summarize this for me. Nothing more to say but that its encouraging to read through this with so many others.
Hi Everyone!
I’ve gleaned so much from just this one chapter, and from everyone’s notes as well! Owen is an amazing teacher. I have grown to love the Reformed view of mortifying the flesh and its gradual growth to sanctification. Years ago, my husband was grieved with his struggle with sin. Neil T. Anderson’s books did little to help. They told him he wasn’t supposed to “feel” these sinful inclinations anymore. We now understand that you will mortify your flesh until you die.
What a blessing this book has been and will be in my life and yours. Anderson’s “freedom from bondage” view pales in comparison to Owen’s view of our true nature of sin. Like Tim, I was challenged by the passage on page 47, “Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.” I think of how often my own failure to truly see the sin in my life has lead me to the false religion of self worship. I must constantly run to the Throne of Grace for relief. The odd thing, from the world’s point of view, is that this is useless unless I mortify my sin. It is because of my sin I need and want God’s grace. Owens touches on this when he writes, “there is a certain infallible connection and coherence between true mortification and eternal life:” (pg 46)
I was challenged as I thought about how my view of sin connects and affects my view of God’s grace and eternal life. I was only convicted further upon reading the final statement of the chapter. “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.” In an age of easy believism and free thought, this is both refreshing and frightening.
“5. The conditionality of the whole proposition, wherein duty, means, and promise are contained: “If you,” etc. All that has been listed in the previous points is dependent on that little word “if.” Life is given only where a choice is made to mortify the deeds of the body.”
I found this the most impacting. I recall Piper mentioning in a sermon that he once told a man under his counsel who was caught in adultery that if he didn’t fight the sin, he’d go to hell. This idea has been lingering in my mind for months (probably since the last time I read it), and I have often found much assurance in it. If I’m fighting or if I even want to fight and I turn to Christ for the strength, then I’m assured and encouraged that the Spirit is indeed working in me. If I catch myself slipping into apathy or laziness in this duty of mortification, I think on those words and it wakens and challenges me.
Of First Importance has a good quote today from Thomas Brooks on the subject of mortification… http://firstimportance.org/
I love reading how this book is challenging others. It’s encouraging and enlightening. Is anyone out there reading it aloud? I’ve heard that helps when reading Owen.
Peace.
I have long argued with several of my believing friends that sin indwells in our flesh, even after salvation. A common thought among believers is that we are no longer sinners because we are covered by the blood. This leads to many sinful believers that are justifying themselves. As the apostle Paul would say, “May it never be so!”
So, when Owen says the mortification of indwelling sin is the constant duty of believers - I believe him!!! I have, at times, had to drag up my mental image of a rotting corpse… buried, but unnaturally ressurected, to remind me of what I appear as when I succumb to my flesh and my sin nature.
Just as God’s word calls us always to prayer, we are called to put sin to death thru the Holy Spirit. Face it, there is no other way to do so. God’s word says that without Christ we are nothing. And ‘nothing’ is unable to combat sin!!!
I am excited about reading the next chapter. I’ve held off since Tuesday because I want it fresh in my mind. (At fifty, the mind does not stay fresh as long…..)
Thank you, Tim, for facilitating this conversation. Oh, and Don - yes, I have been reading it aloud.. It is the only way I can thoroughly understand what Owen is saying. I think my family might think me quite mad before the end of this fourteen weeks!!
In Him!!
I’m glad we have finally begun this study. Owen is such a rich read and there is much to think through.
My wife was very excited when we read the passages about putting to death sin through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Looking forward to continuing day by day in this effort to mortify the things God hates!
SDG
Rob
This was a great chapter. One thing that helped me understand was listening to it.
http://www.doxologypress.org/theaudio/audio/owen/volume_6/mortification/
This is the site. It is hard to listen to this though, sounds like a program reading, so follow along with the text.
“Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.”
Is this the Keswick holiness, the let go and let God mantra? Where any effort that we produce is carnal, of the flesh, and we just need to stop trying and then God can take over and santify us.
The key here is that it is a duty for us, christians, to perfrom. BUT we must do it in the Spirit. Again what does this entail. Is this again letting go and letting God. What does in the Spirit mean? Do we have any “duty” as Owens says or are we just passive agents while God purifies us?
The one thing that helped greatly.”Fifthly, The conditionality of the whole proposition, wherein duty, means, and promise are contained: “If ye,” etc.” I have always had the veiw that I am passive in my santification that mere beleif equals all the blessings of God. It doesn’t though, it is conditional that I be in Christ, in the Spirit, which means that I AM PUTTING TO DEATH the sin that reamins in me through the means of grace that God has given. No I do not lay back and let go. I must slay my body through Christ centered(i.e. in the Spirit) pray, bible study, fellowship, hearing the Word preached, and the sacrements. This is what is radical, to find the promises that follow mortification I acutal have to mortify something, mainly I must kill my self.
This is great mainly because I am struggling with old sins, that I thought where gone because I let go and let God. Now they are back!! This advice from Owen is priceless because “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.”
KyleEau ClaireSoli Deo Gloria
I think the two points that stood out to me were Owen’s last two conclusions:
The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers.
It is our constant duty. This is not optional, it’s a duty. This is not an activity for certain seasons of life, it is something we must do constantly. And as he pointed out earlier, it must be done through the Spirit.
The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.
Tim remarked on this and I had some of the same thoughts. This is completely different than so much of what you see and hear today. Self-examination and asking the Spirit to remove the sin in our hearts is the key.
what’s with all the women attempting to mine through Owen. Is this strictly an American ordeal. Oh for the days when women gladly and joyfully took their created place.
This doesn’t make sense. What do you mean by that? Women are not allowed to read and hear great preachers of old? Women are not allowed to grow and have have fellowship with the trinity? Do you not know that they are co-heirs in Christ? Please explain why it is unlawful for a women to read Owen?
KyleSoli Deo Gloria
Another unruly woman chiming in here! :)
I have unexpectedly found this to be one of the most hopeful things I’ve read so far on the subject of putting sin to death. I appreciate what Owen says about the first word of Romans 8:13, “if”; it is a conditional of the proposition (“If you through the Spirit do mortify…”) but it’s the kind of conditional that denotes the certainty of the event or thing promised (“…you shall live.”) “Means, though necessary, have a fair subordination to all end of free promise.” Hurray!
I’ve enjoyed all the comments! Looking forward to some more…
I too am dwelling on “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the the mortification of the deeds of the flesh”. There are keys to living holy lives, I am glad for those who have gone before and struggled through life and the scriptures to help reveal them to us. So that we would be able to open the doors of christian living.
As for the post to women and their place. Does this mean you are gladly in your place, ready now to die for your wife? Because of your love for her. (Eph. 5:25-33) Remember both man and woman are created in the Imago Dei.
Duty.
A word that has fallen out of vogue. It is our Duty to put sin to death.
Many wonderful comments being made. I am so glad to be reading this book with others. I too have had to read it through at least three times and I have to read it slowly. Many interesting things to ponder. While reading this I am also reading “The Roots of Endurance” by John Piper. I was recently reading through the chapter on Charles Simeon, and I was struck by something Pastor John mentioned in the section on “escaping emotional fragility” he says”…there is great power for perseverance in keeping before me the life of a person who surmounted great obstacles in obedience to God’s call by the power of God’s grace. I need this inspiration from another century, because I know that I am, in great measure, a child of my times. And one of the pervasive marks of our times is emotional fragility. It hangs in the air we breathe. We are easily hurt. We pout and mope easily. We blame easily. We break easily. Our marriages break easily. Our faith breaks easily. Our happiness breaks easily. And our commitment to the church breaks easily. We are easily disheartened, and it seems we have little capacity for surviving and thriving in the face of criticism and opposition….. When historians list the character traits of America in the last third of the twentieth century, commitment, constancy, tenacity, endurance, patience, resolve, and perseverance will not be on the list.” I thank God for the saints of old who were made of sterner stuff the most of our contemporaries.I thank God for all of you who are on this journey of discovery with me to mine for golden nuggets of wisdom. Thank you Tim for setting this up, and I pray that God will reward our holy sweat in hard reading and give us victory through the power of the Holy Spirit.Let us all go to war together to mortify sin in our lives and bring glory to our Father in heaven.
I did love reading this chapter, and have heard similar sermons by Piper on the subject. But I still struggle with the dichotomy of our effort versus the Spirit’s workings. I’m sure this will be expounded on in the chapters to come. What is our responsibility in the mortification of sin? What is the job of the Holy Spirit? I can see both extremes here (and have experienced them both in my life) of laziness on the one hand and legalism on the other. On the one hand, we are to let the Spirit convict us of sin and sanctify us. But on the other hand, we must choose to mortify the sin - we are not merely spectators of our own sin!
Looking forward to the weeks to come…
I think Cristof is just teasing about the women reading Owen! :)
“…ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwellling power of sin.”
So I wonder what would happen if, among other things, I meditated on Romans 8:13 each morning~
Perhaps I’ll try and find out.
Could someone please give me a proper definition of “distempered affections”?
I agree with what Tim said about the last sentence, but especially reading it in the context of the last section is what rocked my world. Where it says, “Now, perhaps the word may not only intend eternal life, but also the spiritual life in Christ
Ben G.,
If I may lend some insight…though you might’ve thought of this already…
I think there are two sides to mortification - 1) the physical aspect and 2) the spiritual. Our duty is in the physical. The Spirit’s duty is in the spiritual. One can only truly mortify the deeds of the body when physical effort is put forth trusting that the Spirit is doing the real work. If we just do the physical act without faith, we’ll only end up forming habits that avoid sin (which, I think we all can attest, usually don’t last). If the physical acts are paired with faith that the Spirit will indeed kill that sin, the heart will be transformed and the lust will lose its vigor.
An example would be lust. You can form all of the habits you want to not look at women sinfully and to not covet their bodies, but if this isn’t paired with faith, the habits will be just habits. That sinful desire to lust and covet will still be there, no matter how repressed. And it won’t be long before it bubbles up in a new way, or a new temptation arises. The goal is that the Spirit kill it, through our actions. Like Philippians 2:12 - “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” We don’t actually perform the saving or sanctifying work, but there is responsibility to prayer, read the Word, etc. Owen does talk about this more later in the book, and it’s extremely helpful. Hopefully he’ll help you solve this mystery.
Grace to us all.
Lew,
That is a very good insight. I must have missed that quote. What I appreciate about this is that many people think that the Puritans and the Reformers, and other devout believers, are only looking forward to heaven, to the ‘pie in the sky, bye and bye.’ This, of course, is not true. I am not saying that we should go down the route of Creflo Dollar, or Joel Osteen and advocate self-help psychology in the place of the Christian gospel. What we find in Owen is a acknowledgement of our real problem, and what real life means. It is not about money and material blessings, but Spiritual blessings leading to a fulfilling life. Our best life now is one where we are mortifying our sin and living our lives closer to Christ.
Thanks.
Apparently when I did the bold tag before it cut off the rest of my comment.
The point I was trying to make is that I never thought much before about the difference between spiritual life and eternal life. Jesus has promised me life and life to the full and that isn’t just in reference to my eternal inheritance with Him in Heaven. The best for me to experience life and life to the full is to seek the power of the Spirit to put to death my flesh that impedes my communion with Him right now. Very sobering.
Hope I’m not too late. Hi, Cristof! Here’s another woman, and if I may defend myself, I’m here because I need some food. Even if all I can get are the crumbs from the table!
I also read this repeatedly and slowly. Since I’m printing out from one of the links I found, I decided to write all the verses on the back of the sheet. So, I spent a good chunk of time over a few days doing this exercise.
For a few years, I’ve been struggling with the concept of ‘unconditional love’, as well as, the assuredness we have of eternal life by faith alone. (People dear to me that I want to reach.) The phrase that hit me was, “The certainty of the coherence and connection that is between the things spoken of; as we to a sick man, “If you will take such a potion or remedy, you will be well.” Yes, there is that conditional ‘if,’ along with the pledge that it will be effective.
Hi everyone,I must say that Owen’s attention to detail and careful lay out of the foundation was extremely helpful. This beautifully expanded on the quote from Murray in the introduction (pg 33) “God works in us and we also work. But the relation is that because God works we work”. What a precious, glorious gift from our heavenly Father. Praise and honour to His name. Amen.
kyle @ 16 makes a great point about something that I find very difficult to understand.
Keswickian holiness confuses our efforts and the work of the Holy Spirit in us by encouraging us to “let go and let God”.
The Scriptures appear to embrace the paradox of our work and God’s work in us. I once heard it put like this God’s math in sanctification is 100% our effort plus 100% God’s grace equals %100.
Should we fear to tell someone that they should “stop beating their wife” because it might be a work of the flesh? Me genoito! May it never be!! I’m hoping that the further we read in Owen this will become more clear. However my initial inclination is that Owen is not saying that mortification is a work of the Spirit in which we are totally passive. To the contrary we are to WORK , struggle, strive rage against indwelling sin (seeing as how we are new creatures as well) with a reliance that it is God at work in us.
We learned from Ryle that sanctification is not “by faith” but rather by a faith working through love.
Even so the theological razors edge we need to walk here is very difficult for me to grasp… or for that matter, as you can see, to communicate…
I am very glad that we are going through this difficult work together. As I was reading through this first chapter a few things struck me, much of which has already been highlighted. Owen’s thesis statements especially stick out to me—and cause me to look at my own life and see if I am battling to mortify the flesh. Sin can be so deceptive. Whenever I think that something has been defeated it crops up in some other area. This is why Owen helps so much; because he reminds us to go after the root and KILL it, and to do so with the all-powerful Spirit of God. Also, being a youth pastor, I am praying about beginning a series in the spring on our battle with sin—I will most certainly be using some John Owen in doing so. Lastly, as I am reading this work I am also reading C.J. Mahaney’s Cross-Centered Life. In it he quotes John Stott. “The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.” I wonder if sometimes the reason my sin is not mortified is because I do what commenter #1 said—just keep sin locked up in the closet. Owen is challenging me to go down into the basement, find the roots and take them to the Cross. Sometimes the reason I do not get close enough to the Cross is because I try to mortify sin on my own (or at least shut the door and lock it in the basement). I am thankful to God for preserving this great work; that is challenging me to not only to labor to mortify sin but to do so through the Spirit and not my own self-glorifying flesh.
Mike - Your final phrase “… challenging me to not only to labor to mortify sin but to do so through the Spirit and not my own self-glorifying flesh.” is the thing I’m talking about that doesn’t make sense to me.
I hear it all the time but I wonder if it’s what Paul means. It seems to me that Romans 6 is suggesting that “I” am now capable of killing sin. My new creatureliness has given ME power over remaining indwelling sin. The distinction now is not between me and my “flesh” but my new nature and the sin which still dwells in me. The language used above seems to suggest some kind of mystical out of ME experience in which the actual mortifying doesn’t involve ME. Yet as Owen says the prescription is YOU. You mortify the flesh. When we say we need to be careful about mortifying the flesh through the flesh…. I just don’t get that. It sounds wonderful and pious but it just doesn’t make sense to me.
Help.
Wow!Glad to be a part of the listening, and hopefully, discussing of this classic.
Awesome so far…
Yes!
As I read through more responses I was struck by how immensely practical and helpful Owen’s grasp of overcoming sin and temptation is! Many of us wrote about Owen’s false religion carried out in self-strength by ways of self-invention all for self-righteousness sake. What a sorrowful picture.
But as we mortify sin - the Spirit becomes glorious, because it is His work changing something that was dead, ugly, and dark into something that brilliantly reflects the glorious Gospel - that Jesus saved folks while we were yet sinners, and he goes about the business of perfecting his work, and he helps us fight for that in practical ways.
This very practical work makes religion true. When we fight sin we are better equipped to enjoy God, and enjoy those around us. Like Rob and Mrs. J.D.Darr’s I am talking with my husband about my study. I respect how Rob, J.D.Darr and others who are reading very naturally extend their study to their spouse’s, and I am likewise, talking with my husband about this study (although we’ve both been reading Owen for some years). I noticed how Mike is praying for his youth group. I notice how Kyle writes about how these truths “help greatly” in positioning him to fight old sins, and how Tim wrote about how faith is weakened, and he feels lifeless and powerless when he hasn’t asked the Spirit to destroy sin, but then how his hope is in the Holy Spirit. When we are mortifying sin, the application piece of our study is evident in what Chad terms a more “fulfilling life.”
I am praying, too, for the Holy Spirit’s help in mortification. I find myself even in the practical, petty, routine needs of the day (especially with my young children) in a place of real need. How do I respond when there is another battle (today over a bag of apples) with my children? Owen counsels me. He points me to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can speak to me in the midst of my practical need - but I need to mortify my own sinful desire to “have a break,” or become irritated, or to band-aid instruct by asking them simply to “stop.” With the help of the Holy Spirt I can make redeemed choices, but mysteriously I can only choose them through Him. I would want to counsel children tenderly with genuine affection and love but to do that I need help! I am so grateful for the counselor nearby - the Holy Spirit. I want to avail myself of means for change, like the opportunity through this book study. Not at all for academic challenge alone (though I do find Owen academically challenging), but instead so that I can really overcome sin and temptation for the Glory of God and enjoy the process. This is where Owen counsels me, too.
Though my sons are only 8 and 10, they “get it” that their fight over a bag of apples is not a work of the Spirit, but one of flesh. Even my 4 year old daughter knows that obedience makes Jesus “happy,” and sin makes God “sad,” and that somehow “Jesus died on the cross” is related to this. They can confess their sin, ask the Holy Spirit for help. I can encourage them to keep fighting for their faith and looking for help, not by self-effort so they can take glory in their own efforts, but instead asking the Spirit himself (Jesus precious gift) so they can honor dad and mom and consider each other with true love and even defer to one another. Even when we haven’t arrived we can confess, repent, recieve grace, and again ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. So, it’s immensely practical for the whole family, and my husband leads the way in our growth in grace every family time to help us all, and we each bring our little tid-bits and lessons the Holy Spirit is teaching to the discussion.
What an immensely practical God that gives us gifts like the gospel, and gifts like Owen who point us to true religion. And all, when it was completely undeserved. It’s amazing. Like Kwame, it makes me want to worship - to praise and honor God’s name!
Thanks for the discussion!
Daron,
I don’t understand it either! It’s a huge mystery and one that I continue to struggle with. How is it that I labor with everything in me—yet it is Christ who is laboring? How is it that Paul can say in Colossians 1:29, “for this I toil (that’s Paul doing it), struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (that’s the work of God)?
I kind of go with John Piper when he was talking about the tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility: “The biblical mystery is between God, who is sovereign over all things and governs all things (including the will of man), and our accountability and responsibility to will what we ought to even though we don’t have absolute self-determination. That’s the mystery. And I’m willing to live with that because the Bible teaches both of those things.”
Here, using Piper’s definition, we ought to desire to mortify the flesh and be about the business of doing so. Yet we also must understand that God is sovereign over and governs even that. It’s with His power that I do it—yet it’s I who do it. Perhaps, others who are far more wise than me can interject some thoughts concerning this tension.
In-Christ,mike
Daron,
The power in your “new creatureliness” (I like that phrase) isn’t just some mysterious power we have given by God. The power is actually the indwelling Spirit, the seal of our salvation, our Helper. “Me and my flesh” is basically the same as “my new nature and the sin which still dwells in me.” You are now a new creation, holy and righteous before God because of Christ’s work and the Spirit’s power. Yet, there is still indwelling sin, the “old man”, the flesh. This must be pursued and beat down. 1 Cor 9:27 - “I beat my body and make it my slave” (NIV). This beating cannot be done by our own strength. It must be accompanied with faith and the power of the Spirit.
A far-off, but able comparison is baptism. When you’re baptized, there is a level of faith involved that what’s being done actually accomplishes something. If there’s no faith, there’s no actual work. You were dunked in some water. Praying, likewise, is meaningless unless there is faith behind it - faith that the Spirit is interceding for us, faith that Christ is interceding for us, and faith that God will find pleasure in answering. So mortifying, if done without faith (i.e. - by the flesh, not by the Spirit), means nothing and comes to nothing. You can line up all of the accountability, form all of the habits, and put up all kinds of road blocks to keep you from sin, but these will come to nothing without some measure of faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed.
I pray that’s helped clear it up some and hasn’t just muddied the water.
don gale wrote,
“I recall Piper mentioning in a sermon that he once told a man under his counsel who was caught in adultery that if he didn’t fight the sin, he’d go to hell. This idea has been lingering in my mind for months (probably since the last time I read it), and I have often found much assurance in it. If I’m fighting or if I even want to fight and I turn to Christ for the strength, then I’m assured and encouraged that the Spirit is indeed working in me. If I catch myself slipping into apathy or laziness in this duty of mortification, I think on those words and it wakens and challenges me.”
The idea that the Christian who has trusted Christ might go to hell is an appalling one, especially after one has believed in salvation through grace alone. I guess what it amounts to is that as long as one is fighting sin, however imperfectly, one shows that he has the new nature in him. The old nature is at peace with sin; the new nature (the born-again man) can never be reconciled with sin. Both saved and lost people have sin in their lives; the difference is how they react to it. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” 2 Peter 1:10
This is a great statement from Augustine’s confessions. The main part here for me is that even during our santification, this we do in the Spirit(i.e. Christ-centerd), that all this work that we do of killign the flesh is nothing more than God’s gifts. Think of it faith if required of ever human, obedience, repentance and many other demands that God has for us. The key is that all these are gifts even though we excersie our faith which leads to repentance and so forth these are gifts of God that we are incapable of doing. The same is with santification. We do this stuff, not in ourselves but by the grace of God. Pay attention to the last sentence, it has always stuck in my mind from the first time I read it years ago, it has reframed my mind.
And it has been declared by Your Son, the Truth, that “Whosoever shall say to his brother, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:22 And woe even unto the praiseworthy life of man, if, putting away mercy, You should investigate it. But because Thou dost not narrowly inquire after sins, we hope with confidence to find some place of indulgence with You. But whosoever recounts his true merits to You, what is it that he recounts to You but Your own gifts? Oh, if men would know themselves to be men; and that “he that glories” would “glory in the Lord!” 2 Corinthians 10:17
First of all, I have found it a great pleasure and benefit to be reading Owen with you all. I have really enjoyed and been challenged by many of the comments and I look forward to more.
One section I found particularly helpful was the connection between mortification and life. That our mortifying of sin does not have a cause and effect relationship with us living, but rather is of means and ends. “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:23). Life is a gift of God, and it does not come about because of our mortifying sin but rather because Jesus lived sinlessly on our behalf. “A gift, and procuring cause in him to whom it is given, are inconsistent.”
After making these statements, Owen then naturally turns to whom the duty of mortifying sin is prescribed. The duty is only given to those of whom there is no condemnation, of those who trust in Jesus alone for their righteous standing before the Father. The duty/pleasure of mortifying sin can only be carried out when the believer already sees themselves as perfected in Christ. Law has never changed a heart. Grace is the only true motivator for mortification.
I think it’s important to remember that sin has already been overcome through Christ’s death on the cross. And we as Christians have been crucified *with* Christ - we have freedom in Christ and our sin no longer has mastery over us. So the battle has already been won.
So what I got from Owen was not that it’s our duty to mortify sin in our life or else face the wrath of God. Because God’s wrath was already poured out on us when we were crucified with Christ. Our duty is to know God and be conformed into His image through the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s not a passive obligation, it takes a lot of self-control and determination on our part. But that control and determination is a fruit of the spirit in our lives. And with this control, it is our duty to constantly put to death “the indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies”. And part of that indwelling sin is the refusal to acknowledge our need for knowing God. And knowing God personally and being conformed to His image is the first and greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”
The point Owen was making I think, is that we leave a relationship with God out of the picture and try to defeat sin on our own. And by doing that we’re doomed to failure.
Carol (38), You have awesome insights! I pray God’s Sovereign grace on yours and all of our families as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (even over little things, like apples! :) Jennifer
I am hopeless without the Spirit of Christ in me. I’m thankful to Owen to help me see the substance of all false religion, which I know I’ve been guilty of slipping into. The only thing that I would add would be from Hebrews, where the author writes that Christ has saved us to the uttermost. I don’t remember where it is. I’ve struggled alot with assurance of my own calling lately, and this is undeniably due to the presence of sin in my life and how I’ve approached it. The most sobering statement Owen has made in this chapter, for me, is to “be k/illing sin or it will be k/illing you.” I think about the ugly, distorted, awful things my heart and mind have been drawn to, and I sometimes wonder, how can I be saved from *this*? How can God forgive me for *this*?! Impossible…but not so with God. Christ has been resurrected from the grave, and now extends his unfathomable grace, which is beyond my imagination. Let the word of Christ dwell richly in me, and help me to do this brother insists of us!
Great post, and the comments were great as well.
This is deep stuff from Dr. Owen. I pray my pea brain will be able to beneifit from this pillar of the Church’s wisdom. I believe I will. Especially with the privilege of participating with others.
“By the Spirit” is the key for me. Jesus tells us that a father will always bless his child here on earth. So how much more will our Father give us the Holy Spirit for those who ask.
It may cause some “spiritual growing pains”, but it must be if we are to grow. “All other ways of mortification are vain”. (pg.47)
Here’s another quote that toched me: “Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin.” -Kelly Kapic pg.28
Have a blessed Lord’s day.
Just wanted to say that I am enjoying the read and the comments. Thanks, CJ
Thanks Tim for your summary & comments.I found the introduction to the book very helpful in providing context to Owen’s writing & sermon’s.With that said I did find the shift into Owen’s own writing a struggle to grasp, and was thankful for the opportunity to read it slowly and quietly.The two elements in this chapter that hit home to me were;(i) You - the person to who this duty is allocated. As a believer, one who has been “quickened by the Spirit” (Rom 1:10,11), I have a duty to mortify the deeds of the body. This is not something I can avoid, or walk away from, there is a personal accountability I must accept and embrace.(ii) The Spirit - the cause and means of performing this duty. It struck me that I am therefore utterly dependant on the work of the Holy Spirit in my life to put to death sin within me. “This is the work of the Spirit; by hom alone it is to be wrought, and by no other power is it to be brought about.” (p47)The application to my daily walk with Christ has been to see the personal accountability I have in mortifying the deeds of the body, but in this my utter dependance upon the Spirit to actually perform this duty.Don
I appreciate Tim’s summary and discussion, and look forward to continuing through the book. I’m thankful to God that in Christ we are able to do what he is commanding, that we who were dead in sin are now alive in Christ. I would summarize Owen in this chapter as follows: Killing sin is serious business in the life of the believer.