Conclusion

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. JUDE 1:24–25

Fifteen chapters may leave the impression of a man with many subjects, and Owen did write on almost everything: on the atonement and the Trinity, on the Spirit and the church, on temptation and toleration, on Hebrews verse by verse. But underneath the mountain of his work there is one simple shape. God has called sinners into fellowship with Himself, Father, Son and Spirit. Sin spoils that fellowship, so sin must die. Christ has died to make both the fellowship and the dying possible. And the end of it all is to see His glory.

Follow the thread and the parts fall into place. Be killing sin, because the best of believers still carry a living enemy. Kill it through the Spirit, because every other remedy is self-made religion. Know what mortification is and is not, so as not to be fooled by a calm temperament or a traded vice. Hate sin as sin, and watch for the marks of danger. Load the conscience with the love you have wronged. Think greatly of God. Do not speak peace to yourself before He speaks it. And then look to Christ, crucified and full of grace, and expect Him to deliver you. Meanwhile enjoy the Father’s love, the Son’s grace and the Spirit’s comfort, and set your mind on things above.

Where he must be read with care

This book has not hidden Owen’s limits. His style is heavy, and he could multiply distinctions until a reader loses the way. His view of the atonement, argued with great power, is not shared by many faithful Christians, and ought to be held, by those who hold it, with humility. He stood close to Cromwell’s government in a violent time and preached before a Parliament that had just killed its king. His polemic against Roman Catholics was often harsh, and his idea of toleration, broad for his age, was narrower than his own best arguments. And his searching analysis of the heart, taken the wrong way, can drive tender consciences to despair.

Owen himself saw that last danger, and ended his most searching book not with a demand but with Christ.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:21

What to carry away

If you remember nothing else, remember two things.

First, do not make peace with your sin. There is no neutral day. Owen’s famous sentence is not the whole of him, but it is true: “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 1 JOHN 3:3

Second, do not fight alone, and do not fight in your own strength. The book that begins with the call to kill sin ends by sending the reader to Christ: to His fulness, His tenderness as a tempted High Priest, His blood, His Spirit. You will not win by resolutions. You will win by looking to Him, daily, and expecting Him to do what He has promised.

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. PSALM 73:25–26

And hold these two together. Owen wanted his readers to kill sin because he wanted them to enjoy God. The surgery is for the sake of health, and the health is communion with a Father who loves, a Saviour who delights in His people and a Spirit who comforts.

A last word about the man

Owen died at Ealing in August 1683, an old man by the standards of his day, worn out by illness and labour. He had governed Oxford and been excluded from every pulpit of the national Church. He had buried his first wife and nearly all his children. His last book was on the glory of Christ, and his last recorded words expressed joy that the day had come when he would see that glory as he never had.

He would not want to be admired. He called himself a poor under-rower in the ship of the church. What he would want is for his readers to go on where he pointed: to put sin to death, through the Spirit, by looking to Christ, and so to grow in fellowship with the God who had loved him with an everlasting love.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 PETER 3:18

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Go back to the sin you wrote down at the start of this book. What has changed? What will you do next?

2. Choose the chapter of this book that searched you most, and work through its application points again.

3. Begin reading The Mortification of Sin in Believers for yourself, a few pages a day, with Scripture open and a prayer before you start.

4. Set aside a regular time each week, not for self-examination, but simply for enjoying God, Father, Son and Spirit.

5. Tell one other person what you have learned from Owen, and invite them to read him with you.

A PRAYER

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank You for calling us into fellowship with Yourself, and for Your servant John Owen, who knew both the depth of sin and the greater depth of Your grace.

Keep us from making peace with any sin. Through Your Spirit, put to death what is evil in us, and make us look daily to Christ crucified for the power to do it.

Let us not only fight but enjoy You: the Father’s love, the Son’s grace, the Spirit’s comfort.

And bring us at last where Owen longed to be, to see the glory of Christ, not by faith but by sight, for ever. Amen.