Book Summary of the Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen

Chapter 1. The Framework for Mortifying Sin is provided in Rom 8:13b, “But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

The thesis of John Owen’s entire book, Of the Mortification of Sins in Believers, comes from what Paul teaches in Romans 8:13b. Owen’s seemed to be using the King James Version and cites the scripture as follows:

“But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Romans 8:13b KJV

The full verse says:

“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.” Romans 8:13 KJV

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13 NIV

Owen does not concern himself with explaining the first part of the verse unless in the context of the second part, which is the focus of the book.

Owen breaks down Romans 8:13b as follows:

• “But if
• ye
• through the Spirit
• do mortify the deeds of the body,
• ye shall live.”

He drives five key points from the above divisions of the verse as follows:

1. “But if” – the whole proposition is conditional as shown by the “but if.” Owen shows that because eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ and not something we earn, the “if” in the passage is not to be interpreted in a way that means that we would get eternal life if we “mortify the deeds of the body.” In this case, eternal life seems to be the reward we get from doing the work of mortification. Instead, Owen says, we should see mortification as a means to an end. He writes,

God hath appointed this means for the attaining that end, which he hath freely promised. Means, though necessary, have a fair subordination to an end of free promise. A gift, and procuring cause in him to whom it is given, are inconsistent. The intendment, then, of this proposition as conditional is, that there is a certain infallible connection and coherence between true mortification and eternal life: if you use this means, you shall obtain that end; if you do mortify, you shall live. And herein lies the main motive unto and enforcement of the duty prescribed.[1]

2. “Ye” – the “ye” refers to the person to whom the duty to mortify sin is given. Owen says this verse is addressed to believers, that is, in whom “there is no condemnation,” (Rom 1:1); believers that are “not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,” verse 9; and believers who are “quickened by the Spirit of Christ,” verses 10, 11. He points out that from this audience of the passage comes this 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”[2]
3. “through the Spirit” – the Holy Spirit, Owen argues, is the principal efficient cause or means of the performance of the duty to mortify sin (the deeds of the body). He writes,

“This is the work of the Spirit; by him alone is it to be wrought, and by no other power is it to be brought about.” 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. And this is a second principle of my ensuing discourse.[3]

4. “do mortify the deeds of the body.” This is the duty that is given to believers in this passage. Owen explains the meaning of “body,” “deeds of the body,” and what it means to mortify. The body is the same thing as “the flesh,” the “old man,” “body of sin,” etc. See Rom 6:6 and Rom 6:19. The deeds of the flesh denote the outward manifestations of “the works of the flesh,” but also the inner heart causes, the root of the sin is to also be mortified. To mortify, Owen says, is to put to death. Owen says this is

a metaphorical expression, taken from the putting of any living thing to death. To kill a man, or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all his strength, vigour, and power, so that he cannot act or exert, or put forth any proper actings of his own; so it is in this case. Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called “the old man,” with his faculties, and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this, says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified, — that is, have its power, life, vigour, and strength, to produce its effects, taken away by the Spirit.[4]

5. “ye shall live.” This is the promise given to those that will carry the duty to mortify through the Spirit. Owen says here:

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 vigour of it: as the apostle says in another case, “Now I live, if ye stand fast,” 1 Thess. 3:8; — “Now my life will do me good; I shall have joy and comfort with my life;” — “Ye shall live, lead a good, vigorous, comfortable, spiritual life whilst you are here, and obtain eternal life hereafter.”

Supposing what was said before of the connection between mortification and eternal life, as of means and end, I shall add only, as a second motive to the duty prescribed, that, — The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.[5]

Keep in mind that the rest of Owen’s book (of thirteen chapters) will elaborate in one way or another on these five ideas from Romans 8:13b KJV.

Chapter 2: Even the best believers must mortify the indwelling power of sin all the days of their lives.

In chapter 2, he focuses on a thesis introduced in chapter one, which is, “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.[6] This, he says, is the first general principle of his whole discourse.

He proceeds to give six good reasons why genuine believers must yet mortify sin. Among them, Owen says that 1) indwelling sin always abides in the believer while in this world, as such it must always be mortified; 2) Sin doesn’t just abide in us but is still acting, laboring to bring forth deeds of the flesh; 3) “sin will not only be striving, acting, rebelling, troubling, disquieting, but if left alone, if not continually mortified, it will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous soul-destroying sins.”; 4) “the one main reason why the Spirit and the new nature is given to us is that we may have a principle within whereby to oppose the sin and lust.”; 5) Negligence of this duty casts the soul into a perfect contrary condition to that which the apostle affirms was his, 2 Cor. 4:16, “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”; 6) It is our duty to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” 2 cor. 7:1; to be “growing in grace” every day and to be renewing our inward man day by day.

Chapter 3. The Holy Spirit (who gives life) is the Author of Mortification.

The main thesis of this chapter is:

The Holy Spirit is the only is sufficient author of this work of mortification; “all ways and means without him are as a thing of nought; and he is the great efficient of it, — he works in us as he pleases.” Owen says the Holy Spirit carries out the work of mortification by:

1. By causing our hearts to abound in grace and to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:19-21) that are contrary to the works of the flesh.
2. By dealing with the root of sin in our lives, “weakening, destroying, and taking it away.” Owen says, “Hence he is called a “Spirit of judgment and burning,” Isa. 4:4, really consuming and destroying our lusts. He takes away the stony heart by an almighty efficiency; for as he begins the work as to its kind, so he carries it on as to its degrees. He is the fire which burns up the very root of lust.”[7]
3. By bringing the cross of Christ into the heart of a sinner by faith, and giving us communion with Christ in his death, and fellowship in his sufferings[8]

Even though this is a work of the Spirit, we are given it as a duty because we must collaborate with the Holy Spirit for it to be done.

Chapter 4. Life and power in the Christian walk depend on the Mortification of Sin.

Chapter thesis: “That the life, vigour, and comfort of our spiritual life depend much on our mortification of sin.”[9]

Chapter 5. What Mortification of Sin is Not.

What mortification of sin is NOT or DOES NOT mean:

• It does not mean to “utterly to kill, root it out, and destroy it, that it should have no more hold at all nor residence in our hearts. It is true this is that which is aimed at; but this is not in this life to be accomplished.”[10]
• It does not mean to conceal (dissimulate) one’s sin under a feigned appearance.
• It does not mean to improve one’s natural temperament (personality). Some people from birth just has a temperament that does not expose them to violent tempers or unruly passions while others do not.
• It does not mean to only divert the sin.
• It does not mean an occasional conquest of the sin.

Chapter 6. What Mortification Is.

What mortification of sin is. The mortification of a lust, Owen says, consists of three things:

1. The habitual weakening of its root and principle.
2. The constant fighting and contending against sin.
3. Success over it. Owen writes, “Frequent success against any lust is another part and evidence of mortification. By success I understand not a mere disappointment of sin, that it be not brought forth nor accomplished, but a victory over it, and pursuit of it to a complete conquest.”[11]

Chapter 7. General Rule #1: Only Believers can Mortify sin.

In this chapter, Owen gives “general rules and principles, without which no sin will be ever mortified, are these:”

1.” Unless a man be a believer, — that is, one that is truly ingrafted into Christ, — he can never mortify any one sin; I do not say, unless he know himself to be so, but unless indeed he be so.”

2. “It is the work of faith, the peculiar work of faith. Now, if there be a work to be done that will be effected by one only instrument, it is the greatest madness for any to attempt the doing of it that hath not that instrument. Now, it is faith that purifies the heart, Acts 15:9; or, as Peter speaks, we “purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit,” 1 Pet. 1:22; and without it, it will not be done.

What hath been spoken I suppose is sufficient to make good my first general rule:– Be sure to get an interest in Christ; if you intend to mortify any sin without it, it will never be done.”[12]

3. “Though this be the work of the word and Spirit, and it be good in itself, yet it is not profitable nor available as to the main end in them in whom it is wrought; they are still in the gall of bitterness, and under the power of darkness.”
4. “Let men know it is their duty, but in its proper place; I take not men from mortification, but put them upon conversion. He that shall call a man from mending a hole in the wall of his house, to quench a fire that is consuming the whole building, is not his enemy. Poor soul! it is not thy sore finger but thy hectic fever that thou art to apply thyself to the consideration of. Thou settest thyself against a particular sin, and dost not consider that thou art nothing but sin.”

Chapter 8. General Rule #2: You must sincerely obey God in everything.

Chapter thesis: “Without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience, there is no mortification of any one perplexing lust to be obtained.”[13]

God requires universal obedience and total surrender. To mortify one sin, we must yield our whole selves to the lordship of Christ and seek to genuinely obey everything, not just things pertaining to the sin whose misdeeds we want to put to death.

Chapter 9. Particular direction #1: Rightly diagnose and determine the severity of the disease by considering “what dangerous symptoms thy lust hath attending or accompanying it.”

After giving two general rules in chapters 7 and 8, John Owen will now proceed in nine through fourteen to give particular directions for the practice of mortification. “These particular directions can be divided into two categories: (1) those which are preparatory to mortification, and (2) those which describe the actual work of mortification. The first particular direction is preparatory to the work of mortification and concerns dangerous symptoms attending any lust and the characteristics of these symptoms.”[14] Greg Herrick, PhD

This chapter is essentially about studying the sin to understand it and make the right diagnosis by studying its symptoms. Know the enemy you are dealing with. Know its history, duration, potency, frequency of successes and failures, consequences.

• Is it a deep-rooted sin? Is it firmly and long-established? Is it persisting in an ingrained habit? Is it a habitual sin?
• What is motivating you to want to overcome this sin?

Owen writes:

“First. Consider what dangerous symptoms thy lust hath attending or accompanying it, — whether it hath any deadly mark on it or no; if it hath, extraordinary remedies are to be used; an ordinary course of mortification will not do it.

You will say, “What are these dangerous marks and symptoms, the desperate attendancies of an indwelling lust, that you intend?” Some of them I shall name:”

1. Inveterateness (i.e., deep-rooted, long-lasting nature).
2. “Secret pleas of the heart for the countenancing of itself, and keeping up its peace, notwithstanding the abiding of a lust, without a vigorous gospel attempt for its mortification, is another dangerous symptom of a deadly distemper in the heart.”
3. “Frequency of success in sin’s seduction, in obtaining the prevailing consent of the will unto it, is another dangerous symptom. This is that I mean: When the sin spoken of gets the consent of the will with some delight, though it be not actually outwardly perpetrated, yet it hath success. A man may not be able, upon outward considerations, to go along with sin to that which James calls the “finishing” of it, as to the outward acts of sin, when yet the will of sinning may be actually obtained; then hath it, I say, success.”
4. “When a man fighteth against his sin only with arguments from the issue or the punishment due unto it, this is a sign that sin hath taken great possession of the will, and that in the heart there is a superfluity of naughtiness. Such a man as opposes nothing to the seduction of sin and lust in his heart but fear of shame among men or hell from God, is sufficiently resolved to do the sin if there were no punishment attending it; which, what it differs from living in the practice of sin, I know not.”
5. “When it is probable that there is, or may be, somewhat of judiciary hardness, or at least of chastening punishment, in thy lust as disquieting. This is another dangerous symptom. That God doth sometimes leave even those of his own under the perplexing power at least of some lust or sin, to correct them for former sins, negligence, and folly, I no way doubt. Hence was that complaint of the church, “Why hast thou hardened us from the fear of thy name?” Isa. 63:17. That this is his way of dealing with unregenerate men no man questions. But how shall a man know whether there be any thing of God’s chastening hand in his being left to the disquietment of his distemper? Ans. Examine thy heart and ways.”
6. “When thy lust hath already withstood particular dealings from God against it. This condition is described, Isa. 57:17, “For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.” God had dealt with them about their prevailing lust, and that several ways, — by affliction and desertion; but they held out against all.”

Chapter 10. Particular direction #2: Get a clear sense of the guilt, danger, and evil of the sin you are committing; See the sin for what it is.

In this chapter, Owen gives his second particular direction, which is: “Get a clear and abiding sense upon thy mind and conscience of the guilt, danger, and evil of that sin wherewith thou art perplexed.” In the body of this chapter, he then advances the following three points taken from the summary of the second particular direction.

1. Get a clear and abiding sense upon thy mind and conscience of the guilt
2. Consider the danger of it, which is manifold (e.g., the danger of being hardened by the deceitfulness of the sin; the danger of some great temporal correction; loss of peace and strength all your days; the danger of eternal destruction).
3. Consider the evils of it; I mean its present evils. Danger respects what is to come; evil, what is present. Some of the many evils that attend an unmortified lust may be mentioned (e.g., it grieves the Holy Spirit; the Lord Jesus Christ is wounded afresh by it; it will take away a man’s usefulness in his generation)

Owen concludes this chapter by saying, “This, then, is my second direction, and it regards the opposition that is to be made to lust in respect of its habitual residence in the soul:– Keep alive upon thy heart these or the like considerations of its guilt, danger, and evil; be much in the meditation of these things; cause thy heart to dwell and abide upon them; engage thy thoughts into these considerations; let them not go off nor wander from them until they begin to have a powerful influence upon thy soul, — until they make it to tremble.”  (p. 66).

Chapter 11. Particular directions #3-7

In this chapter, Owen gives five additional particular directions for the mortification of sin.

Direction #3: “Load thy conscience with the guilt of it. Not only consider that it hath a guilt, but load thy conscience with the guilt of its actual eruptions and disturbances.”

Direction #4: Have a “Vehement desire for deliverance.” “Being thus affected with thy sin, in the next place get a constant longing, breathing after deliverance from the power of it. Suffer not thy heart one moment to be contented with thy present frame and condition. Longing desires after any thing, in things natural and civil, are of no value or consideration, any farther but as they incite and stir up the person in whom they are to a diligent use of means for the bringing about the thing aimed at. In spiritual things it is otherwise. Longing, breathing, and panting after deliverance is a grace in itself, that hath a mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of the thing longed after.”

Direction #5: “Consider whether the distemper with which thou art perplexed be not rooted in thy nature, and cherished, fomented, and heightened from thy constitution. A proneness to some sins may doubtless lie in the natural temper and disposition of men.”

Direction #6: “Consider what occasions, what advantages thy distemper hath taken to exert and put forth itself, and watch against them all.”

Direction #7: “Rise mightily against the first actings of thy distemper, its first conceptions; suffer it not to get the least ground.”

Things that I would add to this chapter would include, 1) Identify and avoid triggers, 2) Meditate on the consequences and wickedness of the act.

Chapter 12. Particular Direction #8: Meditate on the glory and greatness of God

Owen’s eighth direction is to be in “thoughtfulness of the excellency of the majesty of God.” In addition to that, we should consider our unacquaintedness. He says, we should “Use and exercise thyself to such meditations as may serve to fill thee at all times with self-abasement and thoughts of thine own vileness.”

Chapter 13. Particular Direction #9: When the heart is disquieted by sin, speak no peace to it until God speaks it

Owen’s ninth direction for mortifying sin is that “When the heart is disquieted by sin, speak no peace to it until God speaks it.” It is dangerous for us to speak peace to ourselves without thoroughly detesting the sin. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1). Unless God speaks peace to a person’s heart, those who speak it (including that person) speak in vain. It is very tempting to speak peace to ourselves, after a single account of success.

Owen says,

“in case God disquiet the heart about the guilt of its distempers, either in respect of its root and indwelling, or in respect of any eruptions of it, take heed thou speakest not peace to thyself before God speaks it; but hearken what he says to thy soul. This is our next direction, without the observation whereof the heart will be exceedingly exposed to the deceitfulness of sin.

This is a business of great importance. It is a sad thing for a man to deceive his own soul herein. All the warnings God gives us, in tenderness to our souls, to try and examine ourselves, do tend to the preventing of this great evil of speaking peace groundlessly to ourselves; which is upon the issue to bless ourselves, in an opposition to God. It is not my business to insist upon the danger of it, but to help believers to prevent it, and to let them know when they do so” (p. 84).

Chapter 14. Mortify sin through faith in Christ and reliance on the Holy Spirit

Everything in the preceding chapters has been to help the believer mortify sins. However, the way to actually accomplish it is to set faith in Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit, who actually accomplishes it.

 

Bibliography

Owen, John. Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. Nashville: WordSearch Bible, 2019. WordSearch.

Notes

[1] John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (Nashville: WordSearch Bible, 2019), WordSearch, 8.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid, 10.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid, 12.

[7] Ibid, 23.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid, 26.

[10] Ibid, 30.

[11] Ibid, 39.

[12]Ibid, 45

[13] Ibid, 49.

[14] “10. Particular Direction #1: Consider Dangerous Symptoms Attending Sin,” Bible.org | Where the World Comes to Study the Bible, last modified June 10, 2004, https://bible.org/seriespage/10-particular-direction-1-consider-dangerous-symptoms-attending-sin.