Written by Daniel B. Miller |
Monday, December 27, 2021
Rooted in Romans 8:13, Owen contends that the only true means of mortification is the Holy Spirit. He writes, “He only is sufficient for this work; all ways and means without him are as a thing of naught; and he is the great efficient of it, he works in us as he pleases.” This truth is paramount to understanding Owen’s conception of mortification. While it is true to say that mortification is something that we do, it is more accurate to say that mortification is something that is done in us. Mortification is worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Read Part 1
Owen, in the opening chapter of his work The Mortification of Sin states that, “The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.”[19] Owen’s goal for this work, according to Andrew Thompson, was to, “Escape from the region of public debate and to provide something of general use” for the people of his day.[20]
The Mortification of Sin, then, is a deeply practical and useful devotional work rather than an academic and polemical tome. The textual focus of this work is Romans 8:13, “For 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.” In this verse Owen finds both the necessity and the means of mortification. The necessity of mortification is found in the fact that to continue to live according to the flesh leads to spiritual death. As Owen puts it, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”[21]
The means of mortification is found in the fact that it is by the Spirit alone that deeds of the body are put to death. In Owen’s words, “Not to be daily employing the Spirit and new nature for the mortifying of sin, is to neglect that excellent succor which God hath given us against our greatest enemy.”[22] We will deal with these two aspects of mortification in turn.
The Necessity of Mortification
Owen writes in his chapter on the necessity of mortification, “There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so whilst we live in this world.”[23] For the Christian, the necessity of mortification, of killing sin, is founded in the fact that our enemy never sleeps and never grows weary. As Owen goes on, “there is no safety against it but in a constant warfare.”[24] The Christian life is one of this constant warfare, because the battle is always raging in our hearts. As we have already established, this battle is between the law of sin and the law of the Spirit. We do not fight in the hope to win the ultimate victory, but because we know that the ultimate victory has been won by Jesus Christ.
Now, what does it mean that sin does not grow weary in its warfare? It means that it does not rest until it has captured our whole heart and led us into the most grievous sin.  As Owen writes, “Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head.”[25]
This is the warning to the Christian that is one of the bases of the necessity of mortification: sin will destroy all of us if we do not mortify it by the Spirit. As Owen goes on, “When poor creatures will take blow after blow, wound after wound, foil after foil, and never rouse themselves to a vigorous opposition, can they expect anything but to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and that their souls should bleed to death?”[26] Neglect of mortification is neglect of the soul. For the Christian, the mortification of sin is necessary because sin does not grow weary and will have all of them if it can.
Mortification is necessary for both negative positive reasons. As we have seen, it is necessary to avoid the negative consequences unmortified sin. But mortification is also necessary to achieve the positive vision that God has set forth for his people in his Word. As Owen writes, “It is our duty to be perfecting holiness in the fear of God, to be growing in grace every day, to be renewing our inward man day by day. Now this cannot be done without the daily mortifying of sin. Sin sets its strength against every act of holiness.”[27]
God has set apart a people for himself by the blood of Christ. Those people, his church, are called to pursue holiness, to grow in grace, and to live lives that are set apart for God. This positive vision for the Christian life, the pursuit of God, is impossible without the identification and mortification of indwelling sin. So even as the Christian pursues mortification to avoid being overtaken and destroyed, the Christian should pursue mortification with the goal of living a life set apart for God, a life of thanksgiving and holiness.
The Means of Mortification  
Rooted in Romans 8:13, Owen contends that the only true means of mortification is the Holy Spirit. He writes, “He only is sufficient for this work; all ways and means without him are as a thing of naught; and he is the great efficient of it, he works in us as he pleases.”[28] This truth is paramount to understanding Owen’s conception of mortification. While it is true to say that mortification is something that we do, it is more accurate to say that mortification is something that is done in us. Mortification is worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Owen establishes this point in contrast to a Catholic understanding of mortification. In this, we see the Reformed and Protestant nature of Owen’s theology of indwelling sin. He writes, “The greatest part of popish religion, of that which looks most like religion in their profession, consists in mistaken ways and means of mortification.”[29]
Why is the Catholic understanding of mortification mistaken? According to Owen, “Because those things that appointed of God as means are not used by them in their due place and order – such as are praying fasting, watching, meditation, and the like. These have their use in the business at hand; but whereas they are all to be looked on as streams, they look on them as the fountain.”[30]
For Owen, Catholic mortification is mistaken because it looks at the streams of mortification as the fountain. This is to say that the Holy Spirit does indeed work through secondary means (such as prayer, fasting, and meditation) but these secondary means are never to be understood as the primary means. Prayer, fasting, and meditation are nothing in themselves if not empowered by the Holy Spirit and by faith.
According to Owen, these duties, done in themselves do nothing but subdue the flesh, leaving sin unharmed. He writes, “Attempting rigid mortification, they fell upon the natural man instead of the corrupt old man, upon the body wherein we live instead of the body of death.”[31] This rigid mortification refers to the ascetic practices common to the monastic movement and broader Catholicism.
The point that Owen is trying to make with this statement is that ascetic practices, while they can be helpful, will only ever mortify the body if done in themselves. One can train themselves to abstain from sexual pleasure but leave the sin of lust unmortified. One can train themselves to go without food but leave the sin of gluttony unmortified. This leaves the Christian in a tragic state. As Owen writes,
“Men are galled with the guilt of sin that hath prevailed over them; they instantly promise to themselves and God that they will do so no more; they watch over themselves, and pray for season, until this heat waxes cold, and the sense of sin is worn off; and so mortification goes also, and sin returns to its former dominion. Duties are excellent food for the unhealthy soul; but they are no medicine for a sick soul. He that turns his meat into his medicine must expect no great operation.”[32]
The tragic state of the Christian left to themselves is that none of their duties can avail them mortification. As Owen goes on, “A soul under the power of conviction from the law is pressed to fight against sin, but hath no strength for the combat.”[33] The Christian is totally dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit for the mortification of sin.
Owen gives us two reasons why mortification is the work of the Holy Spirit.
First, because he is the one who God promised in Ezekiel would be given to us to take away the heart of stone and to give us a heart of flesh.[34] This is the eschatological hope of Scripture, referenced by Owen in Indwelling Sin in Believers, that God would place his law in our hearts and would give us a new heart so that we may worship and obey him rightly. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Second, he writes, “We have all our mortification from the gift of Christ, and all the gifts of Christ are communicated to us and given us by the Spirit of Christ.”[35] This means that our mortification must be from the Holy Spirit because it is he who communicates to us what Christ has won for us. And mortification was won for us by the merits of Christ.[36]
How does the Holy Spirit work mortification in us?
First, he renews us and causes us to abound in grace and the fruits that are contrary to the law of sin. Owen cites Galatians 5:22-24 in support of this. It reads: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The Holy Spirit causes these fruits, which are contrary to the law of sin (the flesh), to abound in our hearts so that that the power of sin is weakened. As Owen explains, “This renewing of us by the Holy Ghost, as it is called, is one great way of mortification; he causes us to grow, thrive, flourish, and abound in those graces which are contrary, opposite, and destructive to all the fruits of the flesh.”[37]
Second, the Holy Spirit drives our lusts and sins out of our heart. As Owen points out, in Isaiah 4:4 he is called a Spirit of judgement and burning which “washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem”.[38]
Finally, the Holy Spirit, according to Owen, “Brings the cross of Christ into the heart of a sinner by faith, and gives us communion with Christ in his death and fellowship in his sufferings.”[39]
Owen makes a point here that is essential to understanding his conception of the Gospel, the Trinity, and the order of salvation. For Owen, and many other Protestant reformers, the Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who applies to the heart of the believer the accomplishments of Christ.
In Christ we are justified and made righteous by his perfect life, innocent death, and resurrection. By the Spirit we are born again, given the gifts of faith and repentance, and given the seal of God’s presence in our hearts. This understanding of the Father as the author of our salvation, the Son as the accomplisher of our salvation, and the Holy Spirit as the one who applies our salvation is one of key truths which springs from Sola Gratia and Sola Christus Reformation theology.
So, if the question is: is the mortification of each and every sin possible? The answer, Scripturally, is a deep and resounding yes! And the answer is yes because of the Spirit of Christ.
One might ask: why we are commanded in Romans 8:13 to mortify our sin if it is the Holy Spirit who does this work in us? Owen’s answer to this question is rooted in Philippians 2:12-13, in which Paul instructs us to, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
The Holy Spirit, according to Owen, “Works in us and upon us…so as to preserve our own liberty and free obedience…he works in us and with us, not against us or without us; so that his assistance is an encouragement as to the facilitating of the work, and no occasion of neglect as to the work itself.”[40] So, even as we work at mortification, in obedience and faith, God by his Spirit is working, helping, and empowering our every energy and effort.
There are several activities that aid in the mortification of sin that Owen reviews in his work:

First, the Christian should consider and meditate deeply on both the holiness of God and the wickedness of their own sin. Owen explains, “Be much in thoughtfulness of the excellency of the majesty of God and thine infinite, inconceivable distance from him. Many thoughts of it cannot but fill thee with a sense of thine own vileness, which strikes deep at the root of any indwelling sin.”[41] This activity is one that should bring the Christian into a state of humility, of dependence on God, and of hatred for their indwelling sin. It is only when we are made low and our sin is hated as our enemy that we are open to receive the Gospel work of Spirit-wrought mortification.

Second, the Christian should set their faith in Christ and his merits for the mortification of their sin. Owen explains, “Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yes, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet.”[42] This act of faith brings us into a position of dependence on Christ and calls us to consider all the provision for mortification given to us in Christ. In faith, as Owen writes, the Christian should, “Raise up thy heart by faith to an expectation of relief from Christ.”[43] This position of humility, faith, and dependence is the ground on which the Holy Spirit pours his life-giving water. Through these Spirit-empowered activities, by prayer and petition, the mortification of indwelling sin is worked.

Daniel B Miller is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Assistant Pastor at First PCA in Lansing, IL. This article is used permission.

Bibliography 
Owen, John. Indwelling Sin in Believers. Reprint edition. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2010.
———. The Mortification of Sin. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012.
Thomson, Andrew. John Owen: Prince of Puritans. Christian Focus Publications, 2016.
Footnotes:
[19] John Owen, The Mortification of Sin (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012), 13
[20] Thomson, John Owen, 79.
[21] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 14.
[22] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 18.
[23] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 17.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 17.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 23.
[29] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 24.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 25.
[32] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 25.
[33] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 28.
[34] Ibid., See also Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26
[35] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 26.
[36] Acts 5:31
[37] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 27.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 28.
[41] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 87.
[42] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 107.
[43] Owen, The Mortification of Sin, 108.

Now that I have spoken of the suffering Saviour, I desire this of you. Rouse yourselves up to be suitably affected with what I have spoken from these truths. There are three or four ways you should respond.
Wonder
And the first thing I would exhort you to be taken up with is wondering. What man or woman is there among you that can hear these things spoken of, and not wonder at it? That Christ should have suffered all this for the like of you and me! That He who is the Son of God should have quit heaven, and that the Son of God should have become man, that He should have been put so sore to it as to die — for sinners!
I cannot tell what calls for wonder from us, if this doesn’t. O the height! O the breadth! O the length! O the depth of this mystery! That the Son of God should have been put so sore to it as to die for sinners, and not only to die, but to drink the cup of the Father’s wrath! Who can hear this declared, and not wonder at the hearing of it? O wonder! O wonder at it! Wonder at the hearing of it!
Detest Sin
Did our Lord Jesus Christ have to suffer such great sufferings? Well then, see how you should look on sin. Should not sin be very detestable to you, and very abominable? Should not be at very much pains to forsake sin, when it was sin that brought our blessed Lord Jesus Christ to undergo such great sufferings, sufferings which would have brought you to such sad condemnation, and to lie under the wrath of God eternally and eternally?
Sinners, I think that supposing there was nothing else to motivate you to forsake your sins, and to hate every false way, and to hate the very least word and thought of sin, that this might be a motive — that it brought our Lord Jesus Christ to undergo such great sufferings.
Love to Him will call for this. “All ye that love the Lord, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10).
Don’t Disappoint Him
Our Lord Jesus Christ was brought to so many and so great sufferings. And He has undergone them so cheerfully. Has He not? And He is satisfied to see the travail of his soul.
O do not yet then do what you can to disappoint Him, while He is making offer of His blood to wash you! Do not do anything that will make Him regret that He shed His blood for the like of you! For when you do not give him a suitable meeting, you give him good reason to regret it, for you are doing what in you lies to make His sufferings of none effect.
Read More

The Kingdom of Heaven started small but grows large (like the mustard seed and leaven) into which all nations are drawn (13:31-33); The Kingdom of Heaven casts a wide net with the gospel call seeking for dying souls. Such as should be saved will be saved by God Himself ordinarily through the preaching of the Word (13:47-52).

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Matthew 25:1
Upon arrival in the Rocky Mountains visitors are struck by the many sights all around them. Snow capped mountains, high waterfalls, flowing rivers, pristine mountain lakes, and wildlife in abundance. To enjoy the fullest experience of the mountains, time must be spent focusing on each sight. As we embark on the study of this majestic parable we are similarly struck by the many elements within. We are introduced to a kingdom, virgins, lamps, a bridegroom, oil, a fixed time, a marriage, and a door. For our greatest benefit from the parable we need to understand something of the various elements of the parable by looking at each one on its own terms.
We are introduced to the parable not by meeting the ten virgins who appear later in the first verse but rather the Lord begins the parable with commentary on a kingdom. “Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened…”
This is not the first time Matthew uses the title, “The Kingdom of Heaven,” nor is it the last. It is a phrase, however, that we only read in the Gospel of Matthew. Other gospels use the similar phrase, “The Kingdom of God.” “The Kingdom of Heaven” is used more than 30 times in Matthew’s Gospel beginning with the start of John the Baptist’s ministry (3:2) and continuing with Jesus’ ministry when He, “began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” ( 4:17).  Among the many uses of this phrase there are at least twelve kingdom of heaven parables where the Lord describes the Kingdom of Heaven by illustration.  The parables begin with the Wheat and the Tares in 13:24 and continue to the parable of the talents in 25:14. The parable of the ten virgins then is the eleventh in the series of parables beginning in this way, “The Kingdom of heaven is likened…”
Christ’s parables are word pictures. As such we need to use them accordingly. We do not need to interpret the book solely through the picture but rather we should interpret the picture through the book. By interpreting Scripture through Scripture in this way we we will glean the spiritual realities the Lord has reserved for us through the illustration of the parable.
There are a variety of interpretations given for the Kingdom of Heaven among theologians.
Read More