Dr Paul Allen

John Owen (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This is my once-monthly post on the Puritan John Owen . In this series of posts I am sharing some of what John Owen says about putting sin to death, or what he calls mortification. I have been going through his book  Overcoming Sin and Temptation  and trying to distill each chapter to its essence—to a few choice quotes that capture the flavor of what Owen is trying to communicate. So far we’ve looked at  The Foundation of Mortification , we’ve been encouraged to  Daily Put Sin to Death , to understand that  It Is the Holy Spirit Who Puts Sin to Death  and to acknowledge that  Your Spiritual Life Depends Upon Killing Sin . Then we saw  What It Is  Not  to Put Sin to Death  and  What It Is to Put Sin to Death . Then, at least, he began to move to the actual instruction on putting sin to death. First he dealt with  a couple of foundational issues  and then with dangerous sin symptoms . Last month he told us that when you identify a sin in you

Image via Wikipedia John Owen ’s book  Overcoming Sin and Temptation  will show what it is and what it is not to mortify any sin; then he will give directions for things you will absolutely need if you are to mortify any sin; and finally, he will discuss the particulars of how we actually go about putting sin to death. Owen first covers what does  not  mean to mortify sin; this is what I am writing about today. The big theme of this section, at least in my view, is the deceptive nature of the human heart . There are many ways and many times that we convince ourselves we have put our sin to death when in reality we have done anything but. Mortification is Not the Utter Destruction and Death of Sin To mortify a sin is not 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 . There is no man that truly sets himself to mortify any s

Image via Wikipedia John Owen ’s  Overcoming Sin and Temptation  with the title of “Believers Ought to Make the Mortification of Indwelling Sin Their Daily Work.”  Owen seeks to show that Christians need to work every day to put sin to death . Owen’s word  mortification  simply means  put to death.  “ 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.” 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.” Indwelling Sin Always Lives On “ We have a ‘body of death’ (Rom. 7:24), from whence we are not delivered but by the death of our bodies ( Phil. 3:20). Now, it being our duty to mortify, to be killing of sin while it is in us, we must be at work. He that is appointed to kill an enemy, if he leave striking before the other ceases living, does but h