6. Mortification (Romans 8:12-14)
This sermon was preached on 3/12/2009
Paul comes to a logical conclusion regarding the various points he has been making so far in his explanation of how Christians are to deal with the inherent sinful tendencies of their hearts. He has explained to them that the indwelling Holy Spirit will enable them to keep God’s law, and that he will enable them to be spiritually-minded. Further, because of the work of Jesus in providing a righteousness that covers all the effects of sin in their lives, the Holy Spirit will never leave them, and not even death can bring about a separation. Because of these realities, he can make a logical conclusion that they do not have to live according to the sinful nature. Instead they have an obligation to serve the God who has delivered them from the penalty of sin and given them the Holy Spirit.
Mortification is a paramount activity of every Christian. The idea only specifically occurs twice in the New Testament, here and in Colossians 3:5, although in each case, a different word is used. Both words mean ‘put to death’, and they are in the present tense, which indicates ongoing effort. If there is a distinction in meaning, the word in Colossians 3:5 has the idea of weakening. But Paul’s words in Romans 8:13 make it clear that the health of our spiritual life requires its constant engagement. John Owen, in his classic book on the Holy Spirit, gives this solemn warning: ‘We must be exercising it every day, and in every duty. Sin will not die, unless it be constantly weakened. Spare it, and it will heal its wounds, and recover its strength. We must continually watch against the operations of this principle of sin; in our duties, in our calling, in conversation, in retirement, in our straits, in our enjoyments, and in all that we do. If we are negligent on any occasion, we shall suffer by it; every mistake, every neglect is perilous.’
Mortification is a personal activity. Paul describes mortification from two points of view and this way of looking at spiritual things is a useful way for us to consider most aspects of the Christian life that involve both our actions and God’s actions. In verse 13 he portrays the believer as active, putting to death the deeds of the body with the Spirit’s help; in verse 14 he portrays the believer as passive, being led by the Spirit of God (the conjunction ‘for’ at the beginning of verse 14 indicates that this divine leading is connected to mortification). ‘The work of the Spirit is not, and never was designed to be, a substitute for the personal work of the believer. His influence, indispensable and sovereign though it is, does not release from human and individual responsibility’ (Octavius Winslow). We will always need his divine strength for this great task, for ‘without the Holy Spirit’s strength there will be no mortification, but without our working in His strength there will also be no mortification’ (Jerry Bridges)
Mortification is a primary activity in the Christian warfare. Paul is referring to one of the three enemies that each Christian faces, with the other two being the world and the devil. Although it is true that these enemies work hand-in-hand, it is important for us to learn how to distinguish them. Often Christians play the devil for thoughts and actions that are not from the devil. We cannot mortify either the world or the devil, but we have to mortify our own sins. Each of these enemies is dangerous to our souls, but the weaker the flesh is, the less influence will the world and the devil have. On the other hand, the stronger the flesh is, the more influence they will have. I suspect it is fair to say that the world and the devil in the main appeal to fleshly aspects of our characters. For example, both the world and the devil can appeal to our pride.
Mortification is a perpetual activity. This requirement of mortification is a universal and permanent demand on each believer as long as he or she is in the world. There is no Christian so advanced in holiness that he gets beyond this activity, and there is no doctrine or technique that surpasses it. One common error is found in the slogan ‘Let go, and let God.’ Its advocates suggest that believers should sit back and not do anything about their indwelling sin and wait for God to do it all. The proper word for this is laziness.
Mortification is a painful activity. This is seen from two biblical descriptions of the process. The first is crucifixion, used by Paul in Galatians 5:24 when he is describing the difference between works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit and says that ‘those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’. It is important to note who is the executioner in this image – it is the Christian. The Christian has to take each of his sins, drag it to the cross and prevent it escaping, nail it to the tree despite its cries for toleration, and make sure its stays there until it dies.
The second picture is given by Jesus in Mark 9:43-48: ‘If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”.’
Of course, Jesus is not advocating literal amputations. Yet he is saying that dealing with sin is the equivalent of physical amputations. There are sins attached to our souls in the same way as our arms and legs are attached to our bodies. What sins could they be? It all depends what we call particular attitudes. For example, a person can be involved in church activities in order to draw attention to himself, which is self-centredness. In fact, all these sins begin with the prefix ‘self-’. We may imagine that we cannot do without these sins in the way that a person cannot function without his limbs and eyesight. But we have to take the knife and deal with them.
Mortification is a practical activity. By this I mean that it is usually a straightforward duty. It is a rare situation when a spiritually-healthy Christian does not realise that he has done wrong or does not perceive that a particular sin is on the rise. The believer may be unwilling to say so, but usually the indwelling Spirit will convince him of his error immediately. Stephen Charnock writes: ‘As the Spirit gives a strong alarm at the first conversion, whereby the soul sees the strength of its enemy, and the greatness of its danger, its own impotency and inability to contest with it, so upon carrying on the degrees of mortification, there are various alarms to put us upon a holy watchfulness against the projects of sin. Listen to these convictions which come in by the word, which is the ministration of the Spirit, and in respect to the spiritual energy of it is called spirit (John 6: 53).’ When a sin is developing in his heart, the Spirit will draw its existence to the attention of the believer. It is the case that the Spirit could destroy the sin immediately, but it is a rule of God’s kingdom that each believer deals with his own sin with the Spirit’s help. What does mortification involve?
To begin with we should pray. But what should we pray for? I read of one man who was praying that God would motivate him to stop sinning. Such a prayer is wrong because it does not go far enough and is also a refusal to use the means that God has already given. It is not right to make a person an offender because the words of his prayer are inappropriate, but the person’s manner indicated that he did not realise he, as a Christian, had a responsibility in the matter. But obviously all Christian duties have to be done in a spirit of prayer. Without prayer, there is the danger that we are relying on ourselves.
Mortification also involves relevant reading of the Bible. In particular, the psalms are very helpful because they detail the inner conflicts that many believers had with personal sins.
There are some ways of responding to our sin which are not mortification. For example, sin has not been mortified if all we do is hide it from the observation of others by covering it up. Nor has it been mortified if all that has occurred is cessation of outward practices, such as ceasing to watch inappropriate programmes but still thinking about the ones we have seen. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount states clearly that heart sins have to be mortified as well as outward actions.
I am going to mention three details that are essential aspects of mortification, aspects that need to be continually engaged in by every Christian if he wants to have ongoing victory over his sinfulness. I am going to take the example of gossip. The first aspect is to starve the sin of its usual sources of energy. What are some of its sources? We may have to tell our friends not to tell us things that fall into this category. But we also have to change our own way of thinking. In many situations, gossip is merely speculation or imagination about another person. So we have to say to ourselves when we sense such thoughts arising in our minds, ‘Stop.’ That is a very difficult thing to do, and the reason why it is difficult is because we try and stop our minds thinking when what we should be doing is getting them to think about something else.
We have to deliberately think about something good. This is the advice Paul gave to the Philippians in 4:8: ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.’ We have to set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and not on earthly things (Col. 3:1-2). We replace the wrong thoughts with right thoughts. This is an essential principle of mortification, that we replace the wrong practice with its appropriate right virtue. We replace wrong actions with right actions, wrong ambitions with right ambition, and wrong thoughts with right thoughts. In virtually every case the remedy for sin is to think about Jesus and his work.
When we do this, we are then spiritually ready to perform the third aspect of mortification, which is repentance for our sins. It is possible for us to repent in response to our thinking about the law’s condemnation of the error, and that is a good response. But I think it is better for our souls if our repentance comes from having focussed on Christ. The Spirit usually points us to Christ as the focus of a wide variety of aspects of sanctification.
Our souls should be like a garden. Before we were converted, they were like a piece of ground full of horrible weeds. At our conversion, the heavenly Gardener changed the ground of our souls, making it full of life and planting the seeds of beautiful flowers. However, he did not eradicate all the weeds, although he did reduce their power. He wants each of us, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, to continue weakening these weeds and watering the flowers. As time goes by, there should be more flowers and fewer weeds in our garden.
Mortification is a profitable activity. Each of these aspects is a spiritual endeavour: starvation of sin, focussing on Jesus, and repenting of our sins. Their presence is incontestable evidence of a healthy Christian life. What are some of the blessings that we enjoy because of their presence? Here are a few. First, they result in the person becoming less sinful and more Christ-like. Second, such believers become examples to their fellow-Christians and encouragements to them that they also can deal with their sins by mortifying them. Third, the presence of these aspects becomes a means of assurance to our souls that we are truly converted. Fourth, we also enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit as we proceed along the Christian pathway as he continues to lead us each step of the way.
Mortification is a paramount activity of every Christian. The idea only specifically occurs twice in the New Testament, here and in Colossians 3:5, although in each case, a different word is used. Both words mean ‘put to death’, and they are in the present tense, which indicates ongoing effort. If there is a distinction in meaning, the word in Colossians 3:5 has the idea of weakening. But Paul’s words in Romans 8:13 make it clear that the health of our spiritual life requires its constant engagement. John Owen, in his classic book on the Holy Spirit, gives this solemn warning: ‘We must be exercising it every day, and in every duty. Sin will not die, unless it be constantly weakened. Spare it, and it will heal its wounds, and recover its strength. We must continually watch against the operations of this principle of sin; in our duties, in our calling, in conversation, in retirement, in our straits, in our enjoyments, and in all that we do. If we are negligent on any occasion, we shall suffer by it; every mistake, every neglect is perilous.’
Mortification is a personal activity. Paul describes mortification from two points of view and this way of looking at spiritual things is a useful way for us to consider most aspects of the Christian life that involve both our actions and God’s actions. In verse 13 he portrays the believer as active, putting to death the deeds of the body with the Spirit’s help; in verse 14 he portrays the believer as passive, being led by the Spirit of God (the conjunction ‘for’ at the beginning of verse 14 indicates that this divine leading is connected to mortification). ‘The work of the Spirit is not, and never was designed to be, a substitute for the personal work of the believer. His influence, indispensable and sovereign though it is, does not release from human and individual responsibility’ (Octavius Winslow). We will always need his divine strength for this great task, for ‘without the Holy Spirit’s strength there will be no mortification, but without our working in His strength there will also be no mortification’ (Jerry Bridges)
Mortification is a primary activity in the Christian warfare. Paul is referring to one of the three enemies that each Christian faces, with the other two being the world and the devil. Although it is true that these enemies work hand-in-hand, it is important for us to learn how to distinguish them. Often Christians play the devil for thoughts and actions that are not from the devil. We cannot mortify either the world or the devil, but we have to mortify our own sins. Each of these enemies is dangerous to our souls, but the weaker the flesh is, the less influence will the world and the devil have. On the other hand, the stronger the flesh is, the more influence they will have. I suspect it is fair to say that the world and the devil in the main appeal to fleshly aspects of our characters. For example, both the world and the devil can appeal to our pride.
Mortification is a perpetual activity. This requirement of mortification is a universal and permanent demand on each believer as long as he or she is in the world. There is no Christian so advanced in holiness that he gets beyond this activity, and there is no doctrine or technique that surpasses it. One common error is found in the slogan ‘Let go, and let God.’ Its advocates suggest that believers should sit back and not do anything about their indwelling sin and wait for God to do it all. The proper word for this is laziness.
Mortification is a painful activity. This is seen from two biblical descriptions of the process. The first is crucifixion, used by Paul in Galatians 5:24 when he is describing the difference between works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit and says that ‘those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’. It is important to note who is the executioner in this image – it is the Christian. The Christian has to take each of his sins, drag it to the cross and prevent it escaping, nail it to the tree despite its cries for toleration, and make sure its stays there until it dies.
The second picture is given by Jesus in Mark 9:43-48: ‘If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”.’
Of course, Jesus is not advocating literal amputations. Yet he is saying that dealing with sin is the equivalent of physical amputations. There are sins attached to our souls in the same way as our arms and legs are attached to our bodies. What sins could they be? It all depends what we call particular attitudes. For example, a person can be involved in church activities in order to draw attention to himself, which is self-centredness. In fact, all these sins begin with the prefix ‘self-’. We may imagine that we cannot do without these sins in the way that a person cannot function without his limbs and eyesight. But we have to take the knife and deal with them.
Mortification is a practical activity. By this I mean that it is usually a straightforward duty. It is a rare situation when a spiritually-healthy Christian does not realise that he has done wrong or does not perceive that a particular sin is on the rise. The believer may be unwilling to say so, but usually the indwelling Spirit will convince him of his error immediately. Stephen Charnock writes: ‘As the Spirit gives a strong alarm at the first conversion, whereby the soul sees the strength of its enemy, and the greatness of its danger, its own impotency and inability to contest with it, so upon carrying on the degrees of mortification, there are various alarms to put us upon a holy watchfulness against the projects of sin. Listen to these convictions which come in by the word, which is the ministration of the Spirit, and in respect to the spiritual energy of it is called spirit (John 6: 53).’ When a sin is developing in his heart, the Spirit will draw its existence to the attention of the believer. It is the case that the Spirit could destroy the sin immediately, but it is a rule of God’s kingdom that each believer deals with his own sin with the Spirit’s help. What does mortification involve?
To begin with we should pray. But what should we pray for? I read of one man who was praying that God would motivate him to stop sinning. Such a prayer is wrong because it does not go far enough and is also a refusal to use the means that God has already given. It is not right to make a person an offender because the words of his prayer are inappropriate, but the person’s manner indicated that he did not realise he, as a Christian, had a responsibility in the matter. But obviously all Christian duties have to be done in a spirit of prayer. Without prayer, there is the danger that we are relying on ourselves.
Mortification also involves relevant reading of the Bible. In particular, the psalms are very helpful because they detail the inner conflicts that many believers had with personal sins.
There are some ways of responding to our sin which are not mortification. For example, sin has not been mortified if all we do is hide it from the observation of others by covering it up. Nor has it been mortified if all that has occurred is cessation of outward practices, such as ceasing to watch inappropriate programmes but still thinking about the ones we have seen. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount states clearly that heart sins have to be mortified as well as outward actions.
I am going to mention three details that are essential aspects of mortification, aspects that need to be continually engaged in by every Christian if he wants to have ongoing victory over his sinfulness. I am going to take the example of gossip. The first aspect is to starve the sin of its usual sources of energy. What are some of its sources? We may have to tell our friends not to tell us things that fall into this category. But we also have to change our own way of thinking. In many situations, gossip is merely speculation or imagination about another person. So we have to say to ourselves when we sense such thoughts arising in our minds, ‘Stop.’ That is a very difficult thing to do, and the reason why it is difficult is because we try and stop our minds thinking when what we should be doing is getting them to think about something else.
We have to deliberately think about something good. This is the advice Paul gave to the Philippians in 4:8: ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.’ We have to set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and not on earthly things (Col. 3:1-2). We replace the wrong thoughts with right thoughts. This is an essential principle of mortification, that we replace the wrong practice with its appropriate right virtue. We replace wrong actions with right actions, wrong ambitions with right ambition, and wrong thoughts with right thoughts. In virtually every case the remedy for sin is to think about Jesus and his work.
When we do this, we are then spiritually ready to perform the third aspect of mortification, which is repentance for our sins. It is possible for us to repent in response to our thinking about the law’s condemnation of the error, and that is a good response. But I think it is better for our souls if our repentance comes from having focussed on Christ. The Spirit usually points us to Christ as the focus of a wide variety of aspects of sanctification.
Our souls should be like a garden. Before we were converted, they were like a piece of ground full of horrible weeds. At our conversion, the heavenly Gardener changed the ground of our souls, making it full of life and planting the seeds of beautiful flowers. However, he did not eradicate all the weeds, although he did reduce their power. He wants each of us, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, to continue weakening these weeds and watering the flowers. As time goes by, there should be more flowers and fewer weeds in our garden.
Mortification is a profitable activity. Each of these aspects is a spiritual endeavour: starvation of sin, focussing on Jesus, and repenting of our sins. Their presence is incontestable evidence of a healthy Christian life. What are some of the blessings that we enjoy because of their presence? Here are a few. First, they result in the person becoming less sinful and more Christ-like. Second, such believers become examples to their fellow-Christians and encouragements to them that they also can deal with their sins by mortifying them. Third, the presence of these aspects becomes a means of assurance to our souls that we are truly converted. Fourth, we also enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit as we proceed along the Christian pathway as he continues to lead us each step of the way.
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