Mortification (Romans 7:12-14)

We could say that in the garden of Eden there were two gardens. There was the garden that Adam was living in and there was the garden that was living in Adam. We can say of the eternal state of God’s people that there will again be two gardens – they will be in Paradise and Paradise will also be in them. Today, we don’t live in a garden, but if we are Christians there should be a garden in us. What is that garden?

Our souls should be like a garden. Before we believed in Jesus, our souls were like a piece of ground full of horrible weeds. At our conversion, the heavenly Gardener changed the ground of our souls, giving it life and planting the seeds of beautiful graces. 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 graces. As time goes by, there should be more signs of grace and fewer weeds in our garden.

Paul’s solution

Paul in Romans 7 said that although he as a Christian loved the law of God he still sinned and so concluded that he was a wretched man needing deliverance from it. Yet he knew who the Deliverer was, Jesus Christ, which leads to an obvious enquiry, ‘How is Jesus a deliverer in our sanctification?’ We know that he is our deliverer from the penalty of sin, a deliverance we receive through justification, when we believe in him for the first time. But here he deliverers us from the power of sin, which is the deliverance experienced in sanctification. Jesus delivers his people through the activities of the other Comforter, the Holy Spirit, within them. Paul, in Romans 8, explains several ways by which the Spirit does this even although Paul and his readers are still sinners.

So far, we have seen two details of Paul’s remedy. The first detail is that the Holy Spirit enables sinful believers to keep the righteous requirement of the law (vv. 1-4), and we noted the opinion of several commentators that the righteous requirement is to love God and to love one’s neighbour. Because believers have a new heart, they love the law of God, even although they are still sinners disturbed at times by what they think, say and do.

The second detail is that believers should recognise the profound change that has occurred in them in that now they are not controlled any longer by the flesh but by the Spirit (vv. 5-11). The flesh is composed of the unholy attitudes, affections, and intentions of unregenerate sinners. It marks everyone who does not have the Spirit indwelling them. But it does not mark anyone who has the Spirit. Paul does not mean that believers have become sinless. But he wants them to recognise the difference made in them by the presence of the Holy Spirit. There is a conflict between the flesh and the Spirit in the inner lives of Christians. This is normal Christianity, and it is the sign of a radical change within a believer.

Then he gives a third detail, which is dealing with indwelling sins by mortifying them (vv. 12-14). We notice from verse 14 the connection between mortification and the leading of the Spirit, a term often used, but not always in the way the New Testament uses it. There are only a few references in the Bible to the leading of the Spirit. After his baptism, the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to defeat the devil during those forty days of temptation. Paul refers to the leading of the Spirit in Galatians 5 when he refers to Christians’ dealing with the flesh that troubled them. Some of Paul’s readers in Galatia may have tried to use the ceremonial law as a means of holiness, but Paul states that such an attempt is not and would not be beneficial. Instead, the Spirit should lead them to deal with their sins. From one point of view, the leading of the Spirit is a warlike activity, a campaign against the enemies within our souls.

In Galatians 5, Paul connects the leading of the Spirit with getting rid of the works of the flesh and with producing the fruit of the Spirit. Here, in Romans 8, he connects the leading of the Spirit and mortification. In other words, the Spirit leads his people in the ways of holiness by enabling them to deal with their sinfulness, and as Paul says in that Galatian passage they are to keep in step with the Spirit as he leads them throughout their Christian pilgrimage.

Contrast

We can see in verse 13 that Paul gives a very stark contrast in highlighting the necessity of mortification. Without it, spiritual death will be the outcome, but with it the outcome will be spiritual life. When he says those words, he is stating a general principle about anyone. The possession of spiritual life reveals itself by dealing with sin. So, we can see that it should be a paramount activity of every believer. We can also see that as far as the flesh is concerned a person can follow its way without any input from anywhere else. In contrast, it is not possible to deal with the flesh without the input of the Holy Spirit.

Constant

Paul’s words also stress the ongoing reality of this situation. ‘Put to death’ is in the present tense. John Owen helps us to understand this requirement when he writes: ‘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.’

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.

Central

Under this heading, I will mention two details. First, it is the responsibility of every Christian to mortify his sins. This requirement must be his personal concern. Another Christian cannot do it for him. It is true that the Spirit helps, but he only helps those who engage in the task.

Second, fulfilling this requirement can be very painful. Paul likens it to crucifixion in Galatians 5:24, which was a very painful and prolonged experience, and Jesus used graphic illustrations to highlight this painful news when he said in Mark 9:43-48 that if one’s hand or foot cause us to sin we should cut it off (he was not suggesting physical amputations, but the illustrations describe the pain of dealing with causes of sin in our hearts).

Confusion

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 must be mortified as well as outward actions.

Correctives

We need to use the various means of grace. One of them is specific prayer to God about our failings. Vagueness or generalities are not helpful in this matter. Another is reading scriptural passages which describe how believers reacted to their sinfulness – for example, we can use many of the psalms and statements by the prophets who often deal with this issue. A third is what we can call starvation which occurs when we refuse to feed the sins that are attractive to us.

A fourth is using our minds to think about what is good, as Paul reminds us in Philippians 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 should think about Jesus on the cross and on Jesus in glory. The writer of Hebrews tells us to consider Jesus as the one who bore with the sinful taunts of his opponents, and Paul told the Colossians to set their minds on things above where Christ is. We replace wrong thoughts with correct thoughts.

A fifth is specific repentance over our sins. We see examples of this in Psalm 51, the prayer of Daniel in chapter 9 of his book, and of Paul in Romans 7. The apostle John, in his first letter, has much to say about how a Christian should confess his sins.

Consequences

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. Mortification is part of the process of how we sinners become more like Jesus. This is God’s purpose for each of his people, conformation gradually and increasingly to the likeness of his Son.

Second, such believers become examples to their fellow-Christians and encouragements to them that they also can deal with their sins by mortifying them. People who know our characters see changes, and spiritually healthy believers delight when they see spiritual progress in others.

Third, the presence of these aspects becomes a means of assurance to our souls that our professed conversion is genuine, that we are walking as we should. Often, although not always, lack of assurance is the outcome of not walking in the ways of the Lord. When we walk in step with the Spirit, he graciously will give assurance to us.

Fourth, we enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit as we continue the Christian pathway because such do not grieve him by their sinfulness. Enjoying this communion with the Spirit was a burden Paul had about the Philippians (Phil. 2:1), not because they were backsliding, but because he did not want them to do so. And it is stated in his well-known benediction made to the Corinthians: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’ (2 Cor. 13:14).

Paul has given three ways in which Jesus works in the lives of his people that fits with their experience of loving God’s law and yet feeling wretched because of their remaining sins. He has further ways to explain in this chapter, but meanwhile we can reflect on the three we have taken note of.