7 Quotes from Owen’s “The Mortification of Sin”
This morning, I pulled one of my Puritan Paperbacks off the shelf, The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, and reviewed a few chapters, focusing on sentences I had previously underlined. Here are a few that the Spirit used in my heart.
Mortification Is Every Christian’s Duty
“The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, should also make it their business all of their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.”
“To ‘mortify’ means to put any living thing to death. To kill a man, or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all its strength, vigour, and power, so that it cannot act, or exert, or put forth any proper actings of its own….it is the constant duty of believers to render a death blow to the deeds of the flesh, that they may not have life and strength to bring forth their destructive influence.”
The Flesh Is Always An Enemy
“He that is appointed to kill an enemy, has only done half his work if he quits before the enemy is dead (Gal. 6:9; Heb. 12:1; 2 Cor. 7:1).”
“When sin lets us alone, we may let sin alone; but sin is always active when it seems to be the most quiet, and its waters are often deep when they are calm. We should therefore fight against it and be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even when there is the least suspicion….Sin is always acting, always conceiving, and always seducing and tempting. Who can say that he has ever had anything to do with God or for God which indwelling sin has not tried to corrupt? This battle will last more or less all our days. If sin is always acting, we are in trouble if we are not always mortifying.”
Neglect of Mortifying the Flesh Leads to Spiritual Decay
“Those who neglect mortification allow the inner man to perish. Grace in the heart must have exercise.”
“We will not be making progress in holiness without walking over the bellies of our lusts. He who does not kill sin along the way is making no progress in his journey.”
“He who is able to swallow and digest daily sins in his life without conviction in the heart is at the very brink of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
