The Myth of Mortification

I was reading Tim Challies’ blog yesterday and he has been reading and summarizing John Owens’ book ‘Overcoming Sin and Temptation’. It is a treatise on the mortification of sin in the life of a believer; in layman’s terms, the process by which the believer ‘kills’ the sin in his life. Relative to my understanding of scripture it seems to be a work of fiction.

I admit that I tried to read this work by Owens, and found it very difficult reading. First of all, it is an incredibly dense book; very heavy reading. Secondly, at the time I picked it up I was wrestling with the Romans 7 teaching of Paul and how all that played out in the life of the believer. I was coming to terms with the fact that sin is not something we choose, but something that lives within us and wars against the regenerated mind. Had I continued to read and subscribe to Owens’ idea that the believer has to work to kill off the sin in his life, I would never have come to the conclusion, as does Paul, that sin remains within the flesh of the believer and cannot be vanquished by any means of our own. Concentrating on the war with sin quite simply leads to more sin.

The more I come to know the scripture, the more I understand that anything we see being manifested outwardly in ourselves is really no more than a symptom of an inward condition (hmm… I seem to remember reading something similar to that somewhere – perhaps the gospels). Sin is a symptom of a struggle against the law. Holiness is a symptom of the surrender to grace. To suppress sin in our lives is to apply a topical treatment that may or may not treat the symptom but will not treat the underlying condition. To attempt to establish our own holiness is to clean the outside of the dish, but leave the inside filthy. What are we to do?

Challies quotes Owens on sin: “It is a cloud, a thick cloud, that spreads itself over the face of the soul, and intercepts all the beams of God’s love and favor. It takes away all sense of the privilege of our adoption; and if the soul begins to gather up thoughts of consolation, sin quickly scatters them.” What a hopeless mess! In other words, our ability to have God’s love and favor is dependent on our exercising the sin from our lives, else sin prevents them from reaching us. What this idea finally leads to is this; my relationship with God is completely dependent on me. I might as well once again be under the crushing hand of the law. In essence, the one who tries to deal with sin as Owens suggests is still under the crush of law. Owens’ Christ died in vain.

How sad that I know many people who have ventured so far into the area of grace and have been blocked from entering into true freedom because of this kind of teaching. There is so much fear of licentiousness that they cannot accept the full and free grace of God. Anyone using the grace of God as an excuse or license to sin does not know the first thing about grace. Grace, which is a free gift, includes such things as true holiness (separation from sin), righteousness and the God-given ability to bear the fruit of the Spirit. If you are afraid to preach the freedom that is ours in Christ, consider this: Is someone who masquerades under grace as an excuse to sin more condemned than someone who masquerades as a holy person under law? Perhaps, but sin is sin. And either way, it is faking it.

It is by entering into the rest of God, which Christ secured for us at Calvary, that sin is mortified within us. Again, the work that God requires is that we believe in the one whom He sent (John 6:29). Any artificial work of ‘mortification of sin’ is fantasy. I guarantee that it will lead to more subjection under the law, which in turn will lead to more sin. Don’t waste precious time trying to secure for yourself what Christ has already secured on your behalf.

God Bless