Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

Chapters I–IV — The Command and Means of Mortification

Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (1656) is John Owen's (1616–1683) most celebrated practical work. Written during the English Commonwealth, it is an exposition of Romans 8:13 — "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" — addressing the believer's duty and ability to put sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit. Owen was a Puritan theologian, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, and the foremost Reformed divine of seventeenth-century England.

Chapter I — The Introduction

"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:13). In the preceding verses, the apostle had drawn out a most comprehensive account of the privileges and duties of believers. He had shown them free from condemnation, indwelt by the Spirit, discharged from the law of sin and death, partakers of the righteousness of Christ. From all of which he had inferred our obligation not to live after the flesh.

He now passes to the main assertion: if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. This mortifying — what is it? And how is it to be done? These are the principal questions this treatise addresses. I shall show: (1) what it is to mortify sin; (2) the way and means of performing it; and (3) the qualifications of those in whom this work may be expected to prosper.

Chapter II — The Duty of Mortification Is for Believers Only

The mortification of sin in believers is the work of believers — of those only who are in the Spirit, who have the Spirit dwelling in them. The carnal man, the unregenerate, cannot mortify sin; he can only change sins. He may leave drunkenness and take up covetousness; he may leave fornication and take up pride; but sin as a whole is never weakened in him. He changes his master but not his service.

The man who is not in Christ does not have the Spirit; and without the Spirit there can be no mortification of sin — only a suppression, a disguising of it. Such men may labor to kill sin, but they can do no more than a person who stops up the mouth of a fountain by heaping earth over it; the water will find another way out. Without Christ and His Spirit, sin will break out in some other direction.

Chapter III — The Holy Spirit Is the Author of Mortification

It is "through the Spirit" that we mortify sin. The Holy Spirit is the only author of this work. He alone can do it; we cannot do it of ourselves. This is a most important doctrine: that the mortification of sin is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of believers.

What is the work of the Spirit in this mortification? (1) He alone clearly reveals and convinces the soul of the guilt, the danger, and the odiousness of sin. A man may know these things by reason or by the preaching of the word, and yet never be convinced of them in a saving way. The Spirit alone strikes this conviction home. (2) He alone reveals an all-sufficient Christ as our only hope and help against sin. (3) He alone is the root and principle of all spiritual life and motion in the soul, without which the believer would become wholly sluggish and ineffective.

Chapter IV — The Danger of Unmortified Sin

Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be killing sin, or it will be killing you. A man that lies under the power of an unmortified lust is, in Scripture, said to be "in the flesh," to be "carnally minded" — and "to be carnally minded is death" (Rom. 8:6). Sin will at length get to a hardening of the heart. The whole soul is possessed with a spirit of slumber; the man goes on in his sin without trouble, and is insensible to the reproofs and warnings of the word.

The deceitfulness of sin hardens the heart (Heb. 3:13). Every distemper of sin that is not vigorously mortified will certainly get strength from time to time. Sin uses many devices to make it seem as if it were under control: it lays low, it abates its violence, it makes fair promises of reformation — only to return with greater force.

Chapters V–IX — Rules for the Work of Mortification

Chapter V — General Directions for Mortification

Before I come to the particular instructions I want to give regarding this duty, let me make one general observation: the whole work of mortification is carried on in this manner — do not think to mortify any sin by any of your own power, contrivances, or strength. Set faith directly at work upon Christ for the killing of your sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in the light and power of His death. "Reckon yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:11).

Chapter VI — How to Know if a Sin Is Dangerous and Urgent

There are several signs by which you may know whether a sin in you is of a dangerous, prevalent character. (1) The sin that fights and struggles after it has been resisted, prayed against, and earnestly striven against — a sin that refuses to yield — this is a dangerous sin. (2) A sin that fights against the soul with a peculiar frequency, that returns with great violence after it has been cast down — this is dangerous. (3) A sin that is rooted in and made powerful by the particular constitution of a man — whether his natural temperament inclines him to pride, lust, anger, worldliness — this is peculiarly dangerous, because it finds allies within.

Chapter VII — How to Apply the Remedy — Earnest, Vigorous Prayer

Do not speak peace to yourself before God speaks it. Do not say "Peace, peace," where there is no peace. Let the soul lie at God's door with cries and tears, as one who sees himself on the brink of destruction. God never disappoints such a soul. He has said: "I will be found of you when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13). To seek God with the whole heart in this matter is to seek Him earnestly and persistently until He answers.

This prayer must be accompanied with watchfulness. Watch and pray (Matt. 26:41). The soul must be vigilant about the occasions of sin — the times, places, persons, and inducements that give this particular sin its opportunity. To walk boldly into the occasion of sin and then pray against it is to mock God.

Chapter VIII — Meditate on God's Greatness and Omniscience

Let the soul meditate on this: God sees me at this moment; God knows this sin in me; God will be dishonored if I yield to this. "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. 15:3). A sense of God's presence is one of the most powerful preservatives against sin. Joseph remembered it in the house of Potiphar: "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9).

Chapter IX — Meditate on the Vileness of Sin and the Excellency of Holiness

Get a thorough acquaintance with the guilt, the danger, the shame, and the baseness of the particular sin you seek to mortify. What is this sin? It is that which crucified Christ. Every sin has this character — it is that for which Christ died, that which nailed Him to the cross, that which brought about His groaning and sweating of blood (Luke 22:44). Can you harbor that thing in your heart which killed your Savior? Let the soul say: "This sin cost Christ His blood; shall I continue to nourish it in my breast?"

On the other side, meditate on the excellency of holiness. God is holy; His law is holy; heaven is holy; the communion of saints is holy. The soul that is progressing in mortification is being made more and more like God. This is our highest dignity — to be partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

Chapters X–XIV — Christ the Root of Mortification

Chapter X — Exercise Yourself to Repentance for This Sin

When any sin has gotten advantage in your heart, exercise yourself to self-abasement and deep humiliation. Go to God with shame. Confess that you have dishonored Him; confess that you have given occasion to enemies to speak reproachfully of the gospel; confess that you have wounded your own conscience; confess that you have been ungrateful to the God of all grace and mercy. Let the sin be made bitter to you by this process.

There is a godly sorrow that worketh repentance not to be repented of (2 Cor. 7:10). This sorrow is not a moping, self-flagellating misery — it is a sorrow directed toward God, that says: "I have not only wronged myself, I have wronged You; I have not only broken Your law, I have grieved Your Spirit; I have not only injured my soul, I have dishonored Your name."

Chapter XI — A Vigorous Resolution of Faith Is Required

The soul must exercise a vigorous resolution against the sin — not a resolution arising from its own strength, but a resolution rooted in faith in Christ. The soul says: "This sin shall not have dominion over me; I will not yield to it; I will set against it the blood and grace of Jesus Christ; and I am persuaded that He who began a good work in me will see it through" (Phil. 1:6).

This is not a proud self-confidence; it is a confidence in Christ. It is as different from self-reliance as the branch drawing strength from the vine is different from the branch cut off that tries to bear fruit by itself (John 15:4–5). The soul that leans on Christ will find that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

Chapter XII — The Role of Particular Graces Against Particular Sins

As sin usually fights with particular weapons, so grace must be brought to fight against sin with its particular counter. Against pride, humility must be cultivated and nourished; against lust, chastity and holy fear; against covetousness, contentment and liberality; against anger, meekness. This is not to say that one virtue destroys a sin — only the Spirit of God can do that — but particular virtues are the channels through which the Spirit works against particular sins.

Chapter XIII — The Expectation of Victory Through Christ

The soul that is engaged in the mortification of sin must not give way to despondency. God is able to subdue any sin. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).

The soul should hold fast to this promise with full assurance. Those who have been most deeply entangled in particular sins and have struggled long and hard against them have at last found deliverance. God takes pleasure in delivering the weak, the helpless, the deeply ensnared. He magnifies His grace in such cases. He is the God who says: "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

Chapter XIV — Conclusion — A Call to the Work

Let me conclude with a brief summons to this great duty. Are you a believer? Has God given you His Spirit? Then the text applies to you: "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." This is both a promise and a command — a promise that the one who mortifies sin shall live; a command to take up this work without delay.

Do not be discouraged by your failures. The fact that you struggle, the fact that you groan and pray and fight, is itself a sign of life — it is the sign that the Spirit of God is at work in you. The man who has no conflict with sin is dead; the man who is in the thick of the fight is alive. Press on. The victory is sure, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4), and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Rom. 16:20). To Him be glory for ever. Amen.