How does the battle of faith against sin actually work? What are the rules of engagement? Where does God come in? Where do we come in? Is it accomplished by the means of mere mental watchfulness? A hedging of the emotions and physical tendencies? In what point do we “let go and let God”? Should we not just be passive and just “go along the ride” and allow God to do His work?

These are some of the questions that many of us ask the moment we become truly serious toward our enlistment in the war against sin. And unfortunately, in many, many instances, perhaps due to a lack of able pastors and teachers and the pooling of ignorance in mistaking gospel obedience with the shackles of law obedience, instead of being given freedom and peace in believing in Christ many are given the opposite.

Read on this brief survey on the work of sanctification in the life of a believer.

How should the Christian understand the work of sanctification? Is the call of believers to holiness God’s work or their own? There are two extremes often found in the church when dealing with these questions. On the one hand, there are those who seem to believe that we are saved by grace and sanctified by works: here grace is problematically reduced to the initial work of salvation. On the other hand, in an effort to avoid “works righteousness,” others tend to collapse justification and sanctification; the danger here is that the biblical call to active, faithful obedience by the believer can be nullified, and inappropriate passivity can set in.

Rather than these two extremes, Owen follows the more traditional Reformed perspective that upholds another model of sanctification.ⁱ

True and lasting resistance to sin comes not through willpower and self-improvement but through the Spirit who empowers believers with a knowledge and love of God. Throughout his writings Owen is always quick to highlight the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.ⁱⁱ Not only does the Spirit of God bring life to those who are dead in sin, thus causing a new birth, but he also continues the work of God in the renewing of that person in the image of Christ.

The fundamental difference between Owen’s proposal and self-help programs is that he believes that only as the Spirit communicates the grace and love of the Father to us can we experience genuine relief.ⁱⁱⁱ Mortification of sin is “the gift of Christ” to believers, and this is given by the Spirit of the Son.^iv Efforts apart from the Spirit do not bring sanctification, even if they do produce changed behavior. Although the Spirit often uses beneficial activities such as “fasting and watching,” rituals and human effort without the Spirit cannot ultimately bring liberation from sin and temptation.^v

So is the work of sanctification God’s work or our work? Or is it some combination of the two? Maybe such questions are themselves problematic. John Murray, writing several centuries after Owen, fairly communicates the kind of approach Owen employs, although Murray here states it more concisely:

God’s working in us [in sanctification] is not suspended because we work, nor our working suspended because God works. Neither is the relation strictly one of co-operation as if God did his part and we did ours so that the conjunction or coordination of both produced the required result. God works in us and we also work. But the relation is that because God works we work.^vi

Owen’s own view is similar, seeing sanctification as the work of God in and through the life of the believer. This is not passivity, but active living empowered by the Spirit of life.^vii

Two concepts commonly appear in early Reformed approaches to sanctification: mortification and vivification. Building on the language and imagery of Colossians 3:9-10, the idea of mortification was understood as a putting off of the “old man,” and vivification was conceived as the reality of being made alive by the Spirit.^viii Although the actual language of “vivification” is found less often in Owen than in earlier theologians like John Calvin or the renowned Puritan Thomas Goodwin, the idea is clearly present.^ix These twin ideas of sanctification require not only the shedding of sin but also renewal in grace. A practical example of how this works out may prove helpful.

Consider a man who is struggling with inappropriate sexual thoughts about one of his female coworkers. What does holiness look like in this case? Very often Christians have a truncated view of sanctification, which stops far too short of true righteousness. Although it would be a good thing for this man to get to the point that he no longer looks at this woman as an object of lust, that is not all that is hoped for in sanctification. Rather, in the power of the Spirit the goal is to move to a life-affirming position. Thus, the objective is not the absence of thoughts about this woman but the presence of a godly appreciation for her. Under normal circumstances this man should not simply try to deny her existence by avoiding her, but rather begin treating her with dignity, offering words that build her up instead of dehumanizing her with his thoughts. Ultimately lust will be replaced by genuine and appropriate respect and love.

Similarly, the goal of dealing with gossip is not merely the absence of slander (which is the good work of mortification), but eventually the creating of an environment of encouragement, peace, and trust (further fruits of the Spirit’s enlivening presence and work). Following the trajectory of thought of theologians like Calvin and Owen, sanctification involves both putting sin to death and becoming free to love and obey.

Conclusion

We have briefly explored a few themes from Owen’s thought that might help prepare readers for what they are about to encounter in his writings on sin, Mortification, and temptation. Several things will quickly become apparent, such as recognizing that the language, sentence structure, and sometimes his sensitivities are not modern. As you read, do not be surprised to feel a certain amount of historical distance between yourself and Owen—to deny such differences would be naïve and problematic. The goal is not to create romantic views of the past, hoping to usher Christians back to some sort of “pure” seventeenth-century setting. Owen makes it perfectly clear that the power of sin and Satan were just as real then as now. Believers should read Owen not to return to the past but to gain insight into how they might more faithfully live in the present and prepare for the future.

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Culture has changed, but sinful human nature has not. For centuries Owen’s works have challenged Christians to think afresh about how they face the reality of sin and temptation.

Now Owen serves yet another generation of believers, calling us to wake from sleepy and apathetic attitudes toward holiness, demanding that we engage in honest self-reflection. But he doesn’t stop there, for he intends to excite in us a renewed sense of the tender mercy of God who delights to commune with his people. Owen’s thoughts are before you. You stand at the threshold of Dr. John Owen’s office. Will you enter and receive the diagnosis, and stay to hear your cure?

—Kelly M. Kapic, Introduction; Life in the Midst of Battle: John Owen’s Approach to Sin, Temptation, and the Christian Life.

John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2006), p32-35

Read more of “Overcoming Sin and Temptation” here.

You can also purchase the book in paperback here, or read it in pdf here.

If you’ve found great help in John Owen’s Mortification of Sin I am persuaded that you would find the same in this work, if not more so. It is my hope and prayer that it would lead you ever close to the Lord Christ Jesus as you tread the Pilgrim’s life of holiness for the glory of God.

P.S. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor has done an awesome job in this. I’m sure you would appreciate it as much as I have.

Footnotes

1. Owen warns, for example, against the extremes of rigid legalism on the one hand and false liberty on the other (Works, 6:14). [↩]
2. Owen’s fullest exploration of the person and work of the Spirit is found in volumes 3 and 4 of his works. Volume 3 contains a massive treatise on the Holy Spirit, and volume 4 contains four shorter explorations of aspects of the work of the Spirit (e.g., the Spirit and prayer, or spiritual gifts). [↩]
3. Works, 6:7, 10, 16. [↩]
4. Works, 6:19. [↩]
5. Works, 6:61, 224-232. [↩]
6. John Murray, Redemption, Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1955; reprint, 1992), 148-149, emphasis original. [↩]
7. Owen puts it thus: “The Holy Spirit works in us and upon us, as we are fit to be wrought in and upon; that is, so as to preserve our own liberty and free obedience. He works upon our understandings, wills, consciences, and affections, agreeably to their own natures; he works in us and with us, not against us or without us” (Works, 6:20). [↩]
8. See Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms: Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1985), 196, 328-329. [↩]
9. For a helpful comparison between Calvin and Owen on these topics, see Randall C. Gleason, John Calvin and John Owen on Mortification: A Comparative Study in Reformed Spirituality, Studies in Church History (New York: Peter Lang, 1995). Calvin employs this language more often than Owen, but Owen does use it for bringing and sustaining life to people who are spiritually dead (e.g., Works, 3:209, 282, 329, 334; 15:585). Thomas Goodwin, a friend of Owen, would be an example of a Puritan who employs the language much more frequently, in his slightly older treatise, The Trial of a Christian’s Growth in Mortification, or Purging Out Corruption; and vivification, or Bringing Forth More Fruit . . . (1643), The Works of Thomas Goodwin, 12 vols. (James Nichol: 1861–1866; reprint, Eureka, Calif.: Tanski, 1996), 3:432-506. [↩]