The Mortification of Sin

Last Sunday night, I had the joy of hearing Patrick Cho preach Colossians 3:8-11 and how we're to be killing sin. At the start of the sermon, he referenced a classic work on the topic, written by John Owen, called The Mortification of Sin.

Mortification is not a word we use any more, though it has a cognate in what we know as a mortician.  Mortification describes the subjugation, control and putting to death of the flesh (our sins). Owen's focus is on Romans 8:13,

for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

And through the book, in easy to understand terms, he argues that sin is not passive within us, but active, and the responsibility of every believer is to be just as actively engaged in killing sin in our lives. As he famously says, "be killing sin or it will be killing you!"

Using the analogy of a weed, he argues that you can pluck out the visible, easy to see, parts over and over. But unless you go for the root, the weed remains. In similar fashion, our sin must not be simply addressed in its visible, public forms, but we must go after the heart—the core issues, from which those visible sins sprout.

This will never be accomplished in our own strength. Only by the work of the Spirit, as a grace of God, with full reliance on the Son, can sin be truly put to death. As internally-focused as this sounds, Owen pushes us to realize that it will be a surpassing faith in Jesus that ultimately starves sin of fertile ground in our lives. The work is not of us, but all of God. Our job is to fight. Christ is the conqueror.

And in case you can't tell yet, I highly recommend the book. It is incredibly helpful.