John Owen · 52 of 123

Chapter VIII. Mortification of sin, the nature and causes of it. · Part 3

[First.] Complaints. So is the title of Ps. cii., “A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” So David expresseth himself, Ps. lv. 2, “Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.” His prayer was a doleful lamentation. And Ps. cxlii. 2, “I poured out my complaint before him; I showed before him my trouble.” This is the first work of prayer with respect unto sin, its power and prevalency. The soul therein pours out its complaints unto God, and showeth before him the trouble it undergoes on the account thereof. And this it doth in an humble acknowledgment of its guilt, crying out of its deceit and violence; for all just and due complaint respecteth that which is grievous, and which is beyond the power of the complainer to relieve himself against. Of this sort there is nothing to be compared with the power of sin, as to believers.

This therefore is, and ought to be, the principal matter and subject of their complaints in prayer; yea, the very nature of the whole case is such as that the apostle could not give an account of it without great complaints, Rom. vii. 24. This part of prayer, indeed, is with profligate persons derided and scorned, but it is acceptable with God, and that wherein believers find ease and rest unto their souls; for, let the world scoff while it pleaseth, what is more acceptable unto God than for his children, out of pure love unto him and holiness, out of fervent desires to comply with his mind and will, and thereby to attain conformity unto Jesus Christ, to come with their complaints unto him of the distance they are kept from these things by the captivating power of sin, bewailing their frail condition, and humbly acknowledging all the evils they are liable unto upon the account thereof? Would any man have thought it possible, had not experience convinced him, that so much Luciferian pride and atheism should possess the minds of any who would be esteemed Christians as to scoff at and deride these things? that anyone should ever read the Bible, or once consider what he is, and with whom he hath to do, and be ignorant of this duty? But we have nothing to do with such persons, but to leave them to please themselves whilst they may with these fond and impious imaginations. They will come either in this world (which we hope and pray for), in their repentance, to know their folly, or in another. I say, these complaints of sin, poured out before the Lord, these cryings out of deceit and violence, are acceptable to God, and prevalent with him to give out aid and assistance. He owns believers as his children, and hath the bowels and compassion of a father towards them. Sin he knows to be their greatest enemy, and which fights directly against their souls. Will he, then, despise their complaints, and their bemoaning of themselves before him? will he not avenge them of that enemy, and that speedily? See Jer. xxxi. 18–20. Men who think they have no other enemies, none to complain of, but such as oppose them, or obstruct them, or oppress them, in their secular interests, advantages, and concerns, are strangers unto these things. Believers look on sin as their greatest adversary, and know that they suffer more from it than from all the world; suffer them, therefore, to make their complaints of it unto him who pities them, and who will relieve them and avenge them.

[Secondly.] Prayer is directly petitions to this purpose. It consists of petitions unto God for supplies of grace to conflict and conquer sin withal. I need not prove this. No man prays as he ought, no man joins in prayer with another who prays as he ought, but these petitions are a part of his prayer. Especially will they be so, and ought they so to be, when the mind is peculiarly engaged in the design of destroying sin. And these petitions or requests are, as far as they are gracious and effectual, wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, who therein “maketh intercession for us, according to the will of God;” and hereby doth he carry on this work of the mortification of sin, for his work it is. He makes us to put up prevalent requests unto God for such continual supplies of grace, whereby it may be constantly kept under, and at length destroyed.

And this is the first way whereby this duty hath an influence into mortification, — namely, morally and by way of impetration.

(Secondly.) This duty hath a real efficiency unto the same end. It doth itself (when rightly performed and duly attended unto) mightily prevail unto the weakening and destruction of sin; for in and by fervent prayer, especially when it is designed unto this end, the habit, frame, and inclinations of the soul unto universal holiness, with a detestation of all sin, are increased, cherished, and strengthened. The soul of a believer is never raised unto a higher intension of spirit in the pursuit of, love unto, and delight in holiness, nor is more conformed unto it or cast into the mould of it, than it is in prayer. And frequency in this duty is a principal means to fix and consolidate the mind in the form and likeness of it; and hence do believers ofttimes continue in and come off from prayer above all impressions from sin, as to inclinations and compliances. Would such a frame always continue, how happy were we! But abiding in the duty is the best way of reaching out after it. I say, therefore, that this duty is really efficient of the mortification of sin, because therein all the graces whereby it is opposed and weakened are excited, exercised, and improved unto that end, as also the detestation and abhorrency of sin is increased in us; and where this is not so, there are some secret flaws in the prayers of men, which it will be their wisdom to find out and heal.

(4thly.) The Holy Spirit carrieth on this work by applying in an especial manner the death of Christ unto us for that end. And this is another thing which, because the world understandeth not, it doth despise. But yet in whomsoever the death of Christ is not the death of sin, he shall die in his sins. To evidence this truth we may observe, — [1st.] In general, That the death of Christ hath an especial influence into the mortification of sin, without which it will not be mortified. This is plainly enough testified unto in the Scripture. By his cross, — that is, his death on the cross, — “we are crucified unto the world,” Gal. vi. 14. “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,” Rom. vi. 6; that is, sin is mortified in us by virtue of the death of Christ. [2dly.] In the death of Christ with respect unto sin there may be considered, — First, His oblation of himself; and, Secondly, The application thereof unto us. By the first it is that our sins are expiated as unto their guilt; but from the latter it is that they are actually subdued as to their power; for it is by an interest in, and a participation of the benefits of his death, which we call the application of it unto us. Hereon are we said to be “buried with him” and to “rise with him,” whereof our baptism is a pledge, chap. vi. 3, 4; not in an outward representation, as some imagine, of being dipped into the water and taken up again (which were to make one sign the sign of another), but in a powerful participation of the virtue of the death and life of Christ, in a death unto sin and newness of life in holy obedience, which baptism is a pledge of, as it is a token of our initiation and implanting into him. So are we said to be “baptized into his death,” or into the likeness of it, that is, in its power, verse 3. Thirdly, The old man is said to be crucified with Christ, or sin to be mortified by the death of Christ, as was in part before observed, on two accounts:—

(First.) Of conformity. Christ is the head, the beginning or idea, of the new creation, the first-born of every creature. Whatever God designeth unto us therein, he first exemplified in Jesus Christ; and we are “predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son,” Rom. viii. 29. Hereof the apostle gives us an express instance in the resurrection: “Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming,” 1 Cor. xv. 23. It is so in all things; all that is wrought in us, it is in resemblance and conformity unto Christ. Particularly, we are by grace “planted in the likeness of his death,” Rom. vi. 5, being “made conformable unto his death,” Phil. iii. 10; and so “dead with Christ,” Col. ii. 20. Now, this conformity is not in our natural death, nor in our being put to death as he was; for it is that which we are made partakers of in this life, and that in a way of grace and mercy. But Christ died for sin, for our sin, which was the meritorious procuring cause thereof; and he lived again by the power of God. A likeness and conformity hereunto God will work in all believers. There is by nature a life of sin in them, as hath been declared. This life must be destroyed, sin must die in us; and we thereby become dead unto sin. And as he rose again, so are we to be quickened in and unto newness of life. In this death of sin consists that mortification which we treat about, and without which we cannot be conformed unto Christ in his death, which we are designed unto. And the same Spirit which wrought these things in Christ will, in the pursuit of his design, work that which answers unto them in all his members.

(Secondly.) In respect of efficacy. Virtue goeth forth from the death of Christ for the subduing and destruction of sin. It was not designed to be a dead, inactive, passive example, but it is accompanied with a power conforming and changing us into his own likeness. It is the ordinance of God unto that end; which he therefore gives efficacy unto. It is by a fellowship or participation in his sufferings that we are “made conformable unto his death,” Phil. iii. 10; — this κοινωνία τῶν παθημάτων is an interest in the benefit of his sufferings; we also are made partakers thereof. This makes us conformable to his death, in the death of sin in us. The death of Christ is designed to be the death of sin, let them who are dead in sin deride it whilst they please. If Christ had not died, sin had never died in any sinner unto eternity. Wherefore, that there is a virtue and efficacy in the death of Christ unto this purpose cannot be denied without a renunciation of all the benefits thereof. On the one hand, the Scripture tells us that he is “our life,” our spiritual life, the spring, fountain, and cause of it; we have nothing, therefore, that belongs thereunto but what is derived from him. They cast themselves out of the verge of Christianity who suppose that the Lord Christ is no otherwise our life, or the author of life unto us, but as he hath revealed and taught the way of life unto us; he is our life as he is our head. And it would be a sorry head that should only teach the feet to go, and not communicate strength to the whole body so to do. And that we have real influences of life from Christ I have sufficiently proved before. Unto our spiritual life doth ensue the death of sin; for this, on the other hand, is peculiarly assigned unto his death in the testimonies before produced. This, therefore, is by virtue derived from Christ, — that is, in an especial manner from his death, as the Scripture testifies.

All the inquiry is, How the death of Christ is applied unto us, or, which is the same, How we apply ourselves to the death of Christ for this purpose. And I answer, we do it two ways:—

[1st.] By faith. The way to derive virtue from Christ is by touching of him. So the diseased woman in the gospel touched but the hem of his garment, and virtue went forth from him to stay her bloody issue, Matt. ix. 20–22. It was not her touching him outwardly, but her faith, which she acted then and thereby, that derived virtue from him; for so our Saviour tells her in his answer, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” But unto what end was this touching of his garment? It was only a pledge and token of the particular application of the healing power of Christ unto her soul, or her faith in him in particular for that end: for at the same time many thronged upon him in a press, so as his disciples marvelled he should ask who touched his clothes, Mark v. 30, 31; yet was not any of them advantaged but the poor sick woman. A great emblem it is of common profession on the one hand, and especial faith on the other. Multitudes press and throng about Christ in a profession of faith and obedience, and in the real performance of many duties, but no virtue goeth forth from Christ to heal them. But when anyone, though poor, though seemingly at a distance, gets but the least touch of him by especial faith, this soul is healed. This is our way with respect unto the mortification of sin. The Scripture assures us that there is virtue and efficacy in the death of Christ unto that end. The means whereby we derive this virtue from him is by touching of him, — that is, by acting faith on him in his death for the death of sin.

But how will this effect it? how will sin be mortified hereby? I say, How, by what power and virtue, were they healed in the wilderness who looked unto the brazen serpent? was it not because that was an ordinance of God, which by his almighty power he made effectual unto that purpose? The death of Christ being so as to the crucifying of sin, when it is looked on or applied unto by faith, shall not divine virtue and power go forth unto that end? The Scripture and experience of all believers give testimony unto the truth and reality thereof. Besides, faith itself, as acted on the death of Christ, hath a peculiar efficacy unto the subduing of sin: for, “beholding” him thereby “as in a glass, we are changed into the same image,” 2 Cor. iii. 18; and that which we peculiarly behold, we are peculiarly transformed into the likeness of. And, moreover, it is the only means whereby we actually derive from Christ the benefits of our union with him. From thence we have all grace, or there is no such thing in the world; and the communication of it unto us is in and by the actual exercise of faith principally. So it being acted with respect unto his death, we have grace for the killing of sin, and thereby become dead with him, crucified with him, buried with him, as in the testimonies before produced. This is that which we call the application of the death of Christ unto us, or our application of ourselves to the death of Christ for the mortification of sin. And they by whom this means thereof is despised or neglected, who are ignorant of it or do blaspheme it, must live under the power of sin, unto what inventions soever they turn themselves for deliverance. According as we abide and abound herein will be our success. Those who are careless and remiss in the exercise of faith, by prayer and meditation, in the way described, will find that sin will keep its ground, and maintain so much power in them as shall issue in their perpetual trouble; and men who are much conversant with the death of Christ, — not in notions and lifeless speculations, not in natural or carnal affections, like those which are raised in weak persons by images and crucifixes, but by holy actings of faith with respect unto what is declared in the Scripture as to its power and efficacy, — will be implanted into the likeness of it, and experience the death of sin in them continually.

[2dly.] We do it by love. Christ as crucified is the great object of our love, or should so be; for he is therein unto sinners “altogether lovely.” Hence one of the ancients cried out, Ὁ ἔρως ἐμὸς ἐσταύρωται; — “My love is crucified, and why do I stay behind?” In the death of Christ do his love, his grace, his condescension, most gloriously shine forth. We may, therefore, consider three things with respect unto this love:— first, The object of it; secondly, The means of the representation of that object unto our minds and affections; thirdly, The effects of it as to the case in hand.

First, The object of it is Christ himself, in his unsearchable grace, his unspeakable love, his infinite condescension, his patient suffering, and victorious power, in his death or dying for us. It is not his death absolutely, but himself, as all these graces conspicuously shine forth in his death, which is intended.

Secondly, And there are various ways whereby this may be represented unto our minds:— (First,) Men may do it unto themselves by their own imaginations. They may frame and fancy dolorous things unto themselves about it, which is the way of persons under deep and devout superstitions; but no love in sincerity will ever be ingenerated towards Jesus Christ hereby. (Secondly,) It may be done by others, in pathetical and tragical declarations of the outward part of Christ’s sufferings. Herein some have a great faculty to work upon the natural affections of their auditors; and great passions, accompanied with tears and vows, may be so excited. But, for the most part, there is no more in this work than what the same persons do find in themselves, it may be, in the reading or hearing of a feigned story; for there is a sympathy in natural affections with the things that are their proper objects, though represented by false imaginations. (Thirdly,) It is done in the Papacy, and among some others, by images, in crucifixes and dolorous pictures, whereunto they pay great devotion, with an appearance of ardent affections; but none of these is such a due representation of this object as to ingenerate sincere love towards Christ crucified in any soul. Wherefore, (Fourthly,) This is done effectually only by the gospel, and in the dispensation of it according to the mind of God; for therein is “Jesus Christ evidently crucified before our eyes,” Gal. iii. 1. And this it doth by proposing unto our faith the grace, the love, the patience, the condescension, the obedience, the end and design of Christ therein. So is Christ eyed by faith as the proper object of sincere love. And being so stated, —

Thirdly, The effects of it, as of all true love, are, first, Adherence; secondly, Assimilation :— (First,) Adherence. Love in the Scripture is frequently expressed by this effect; the soul of one did cleave, or was knit, unto another, as that of Jonathan to David, 1 Sam. xviii. 1. So it produceth a firm adherence unto Christ crucified, that makes a soul to be in some sense always present with Christ on the cross. And hence ensues, (Secondly,) Assimilation or conformity. None treat of the nature or effects of love but they assign this as one of them, that it begets a likeness between the mind loving and the object beloved. And so I am sure it is in this matter. A mind filled with the love of Christ as crucified, and represented in the manner and way before described, will be changed into his image and likeness by the effectual mortification of sin, through a derivation of power and grace from thence for that purpose.

(5thly.) The Holy Ghost carrieth on this work by constant discoveries unto and pressing on believers, on the one hand, the true nature and certain end of sin; and, on the other, the beauty, excellency, usefulness, and necessity of holiness, with the concerns of God, Christ, the gospel, and their own souls therein. A rational consideration of these things is all the ground and reason of mortification in the judgment of some men. But we have proved that there are other causes of it also; and now I add, that if we have no consideration of these things but what our own reason is of itself able to suggest unto us, it will never be prevalent unto any sincere or permanent attempt in the mortification of any sin whatever. Let men make the best of their reason they can, in the searching and consideration of the perverse nature and dreadful consequents of sin, of the perfect peace and future blessedness which attendeth the practice of holiness, they will find an obstinacy and stubbornness in their hearts not conquerable by any such reasonings or considerations. That conviction of sin and righteousness which is useful and prevalent unto that end and purpose is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, John xvi. 8. Although he makes use of our minds, understandings, reasons, consciences, and the best of our consideration, in this matter, yet if he give not a peculiar efficacy and power unto all, the work will not be effectual. When he is pleased to make use of reasons and motives, taken from the nature and end of sin and holiness, unto the mortification of sin, they shall hold good, and bind the soul unto this duty, against all objections and temptations that would divert it whatever.

And thus I have briefly, and I confess weakly and obscurely, delineated the work of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of them that do believe. Many things might have been more enlarged and particularly inquired into; what have been discoursed I judge sufficient to my present purpose. And I doubt not but that what hath been argued from plain Scripture and experience is sufficient, as to direct us in the practice of true evangelical holiness, so, with all sober persons, to cast out of all consideration that fulsome product of pride and ignorance, that all gospel holiness consists in the practice of moral virtues.