This article will highlight the wisdom within the first chapter of John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin. While this book will be helpful for women, my present plea is for God’s men to pick up this work and battle. Perhaps, you can bring your son, grandson, or another man in your church along, familiarizing him with his formidable ally: the Holy Spirit. You can also teach him how to slay a fierce enemy: Sin. Hopefully, this short read will spur you on to read the book in its entirety, put your sin to death, and share Owen’s work with other men around you.

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 (p. 21).

This sentence is John Owen’s thesis in The Mortification of Sin. His work arises from Romans 8:13, which states, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” As I write, in December 2024, the Reformed community is placing significant emphasis on manhood and biblical masculinity. This movement is good, proper, and necessary for such a time as this. We are teaching the men in our churches and the boys in our homes to fight for the faith by leading, loving, protecting, and providing first for the family within their home and then for the family within their local church. This effort brings about a spirit and a sense of adventure, battle, conflict, and conquest. We are teaching ourselves, our men, and our boys to be a warrior who is tender to his allies and tough on his enemies. For these reasons, the subject of mortifying sin ought to resonate with the push for biblical masculinity; for as you see in Owen’s thesis, the call of Romans 8:13 is to bring fatality upon the sinful flesh . . . something that aligns well with the call for God’s men to engage in conflict for their King’s glory. 

Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world (p. 22). 

In this portion of Owen’s work, he brings forth not just an holy ally, but also the cause of our mortification: the Holy Spirit. He writes, “All other ways of mortification are vain; all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit.” The only way to mortify sin is to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit. A few verses before Romans 8:13, Paul writes, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9). This verse, along with Romans 8:13, teaches that you cannot mortify sin unless you are born again, being indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, to attempt to kill your sin without first being indwelled by the Holy Spirit is to attempt to drive a car without first turning on the ignition: you will go nowhere at best. The Holy Spirit is “the principle efficient cause,” of our mortification of sin. He is not the superintendent over the battle, but He is the force which lifts the sword, He is the hand that steadies our aim, and He is the sharp point of our blade which delivers the deadly blow to the sin that doth so easily beset us (Hebrew 12:1).

To kill a man, or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all his strength, vigour, and power, so that he cannot act, or exert, or put forth any proper actings of his own (pp. 23-24).

I recall watching a wrestling match once while warming up for my own tussle. If I won my bout, which fortunately I did, I was to face the winner of this match; therefore, I watched with piqued interest. One wrestler, wearing blue and white, took a decisive lead over his opponent who wore a slick red and black uniform. Well into the third and final period, this trend continued, and the score was something like 12-4 in favor of the wrestler dressed in blue. By all accounts, the man in red and black was done; however, with only 30 seconds remaining, the wrestler who appeared to be destined for victory found himself on his back in danger of being pinned! A moment later, the whistle blew, the referee smacked the mat, and raised the hand of the unlikely victor: the man in red and black! Sin can be like this wrestler wearing red and black; just when you think you have it beat, it comes back to defeat you. “Indwelling sin,” says Owen, “is compared to a person, a living person, called the old man, with his faculties and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this (says the apostle) must be killed, put to death, mortified.” We must be like David fighting Goliath in this instance, for perhaps the stone is enough to kill the giant but go cut his head off any way, lest sin pin you to the mat when you think you’ve got it where you want it. Sin requires a rigorous foe who will not relent.

Take Up and Read! 

Oh men of God, let us rise up, mortify our sin, and glorify our great God in the process. I urge you, read The Mortification of Sin, rely on the Holy Spirit to kill indwelling sin, and know true strength, peace, and joy in your walk with the Father. Soli Deo Gloria.