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Killing Sin by the Power of the Spirit: John Owen’s approach to mortifying remaining sin (Geoff Thomas)

In the new issue of Credo Magazine, “The Prince of Puritans: John Owen,” Geoff Thomas has contributed an article called, “Killing Sin by the Power of the Spirit: John Owen’s approach to mortifying remaining sin.” He is the author of The Holy Spirit and is long-time minister of Alfred Place Baptist Church in Aberystwyth, Wales, since 1965.

Here is the start of his article: 

John Owen would shake his head a little at another article written about his contribution to understanding the New Testament’s teaching on killing remaining sin. He would have much preferred future generations to be helped to see more of the glory of God. He would find our obsession with killing the flesh to be a sign of our struggles in sanctification. However, given our evangelical neglect of the duty to kill our sin, John Owen comes with mighty encouragement to assist us in our holy ambition to be like Christ.

What to do with remaining sin

Owen hones in on the Pauline exhortation, “If you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13). The Bible affirms that the Christian has been delivered from the dominion of sin by the Holy Spirit coming into his life. The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s new master, deposing King Sin. The Christian has been made free from sin’s insistent commands that he give in to sin and satisfy its lusts; every true Christian is now able to defy sin and do what is righteous. But, of course, that does not make him sinless. Oh that he were, but for that he must wait for heaven! The remaining virus of sin and its misdeeds will ever trouble us; it will make its presence felt even on our deathbeds. What are we to do with remaining sin which, while not controlling us, is still within us?

There is no other way than by the Spirit

We keep looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, of course. Our constant trust in the Savior is the source of our victory over sin. That is one biblical insistence, and another is found in the eighth chapter of Romans. Paul tells us that our hope lies in putting to death the misdeeds of the body—that is, in mortifying remaining sin by weakening, starving, and murdering everything evil that rises up within us to defy God and his law. We are to be engaged in this work by the energy and under the direction of the Spirit of God. Regeneration is vain without the work of the Spirit. Sanctification is vain without the work of the Spirit. The fruit of Christ-likeness will never appear without the Spirit. Intercession is impossible without the Spirit. So we also are impotent to put to death the misdeeds of the body without the Holy Spirit. All other ways of killing sin are vain; all other suggested helps are helpless. It must be done by the Spirit, by him alone, not by appeal to any other power. If, for example, you appeal to Yoga to kill your sinful natures, or pursue a solitary life in an isolated cottage on top of a Welsh mountain, or beat yourself with a whip until the blood flows—anything other than the grace of the Spirit to overcome your sins—then you are saying that the Holy Spirit is inadequate for this work. That is an insult to him.

Remember the promises of God in the Old Testament, especially in the prophecies of Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26, that the Spirit will come and remove those elements of proud, stubborn, rebellious unbelief from our hearts. That is the work of mortification, and it is only as a gift of the Spirit of Christ that deliverance from sin and increased likeness to the Lord can be ours. There is no other way than by the Spirit. All the work of weakening sin and increasing love, joy, and peace is the work of God. So mortification is a happy work. The very conception is his work; the continuance is his work; the consummation is his work. The Paraclete’s task in us is to weaken sin and strengthen Christ. Only he is sufficient for this work.

So as you battle with the sin that so easily besets you, never forget your duty: “You put to death the misdeeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13). You do it. You don’t lie back on a comfy bed of ease and wait for the Spirit to do it. You have to put to death the misdeeds of the body, but you do so by the Spirit, by his power and love and wisdom. How so? Owen says five things. …

Read the rest of this article today!

View the magazine as a PDF

Church history matters. We are not the first generation to read the Bible. So looking to the help of those who have come before us is incredibly valuable. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Many godly individuals have preceded us and more often than not their insights into God’s Word tend to be far more valuable than what you will find on the best seller rack of a Christian bookstore. By looking to those giants of the faith in the history of the church, not only do we avoid falling prey to the heresies of the past, but we also stand firmly on the shoulders of others so that we persevere in sound doctrine (Titus 2:1).

COVEROne set of broad shoulders belongs to the seventeenth-century Puritan John Owen. It is hard to exaggerate the importance and influence of Owen’s life and writings. His books were and still are some of the best works in theology that we have, standing alongside those of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and many others. The Christian today will benefit in countless ways from works like On Communion with God, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith, On the Mortification of Sin, and Of Indwelling Sin in Believers.

What is so remarkable about Owen, however, is not merely the robust, biblical theology nature of his writings, but his insistence that theology affects the Christian life. In other words, Owen refused to separate head and heart. Doctrine must lead to doxology every time, otherwise we have not truly understood its purpose. Therefore, Owen is the Doctor who looks into the human soul in order to diagnose our spiritual disease and offer us a cure in Jesus Christ. If read carefully, it is hard not to finish a book by Owen without feeling a desire to know God more.

The upcoming year, 2016, will be the four hundredth anniversary of Owen’s birth. So what better timing for an issue of Credo Magazine that aims to introduce some of Owen’s theology and writings. But as much as we love you reading Credo Magazine, this issue would be a failure if you did not study and read this Prince of Puritans for yourself.

Contributors include: J. V. Fesko, Ryan M. McGraw, Geoff Thomas, Daniel R. Hyde, Joel Beeke, Leonardo De Chirico, Kelly M. Kapic, Michael Haykin, and many others. 

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