Topical Comparison Sheet of the Continental Reformed Confessions

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Chapter I – The Foundation Of The Whole Ensuing Discourse Laid In Romans 8:13

That what I have of direction to contribute to the carrying on of the work of mortification in believers may receive order and perspicuity, I shall lay the foundation of it in those words of the apostle, Romans 8:13,

"If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live;"

and reduce the whole to an improvement of the great evangelical truth and mystery contained in them.

The apostle having made a recapitulation of his doctrine of justification by faith, and the blessed estate and condition of them who are made by grace partakers thereof, verses 1-3 of this chapter, proceeds to improve it to the holiness and consolation of believers.  

ON THE MORTIFICATION OF SIN IN BELIEVERS

This is the first installment of this great puritan work written by John Owen (1616-1683).

In On the Mortification of Sin in Believers, basing his substance on Romans 8:13, Owen provides teaching in a crucial but neglected aspect of Christianity, the war against sin and its lusts.

 

 

What is it to mortify? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary has it as to destroy the strength, vitality, or functioning of a thing. Strong’s Greek has it as, from thanatos to kill (literally or figuratively) — become dead, (cause to be) put to death, kill, mortify. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states:

This sense of mortify is obsolete in modern English, and the American Standard Revised Version in both places substitutes "put to death," with great advantage. The context in both passages goes to the heart of Paul’s doctrine of the union of the believer with Christ. This union has given the soul a new life, flowing (through the Spirit) from Christ in the heavenly world, so that the remnants of the old corrupt life-principle are now dangerous excrescences. Hence, they are to be destroyed, just as a surgeon removes the remnants of a diseased condition after the reestablishment of healthy circulation. The interpreter must guard against weakening Paul’s language into some such phrase as "subdue all that is inconsistent with the highest ideals," for Paul views the union with Christ as an intensely real, quasi-physical relation.

So, without further ado,

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