Be Killing Sin…All of It or None of It

I think that most evangelicals have heard the quote from John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin that goes something like this, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Honestly, whether they know where it’s from or not, the idea conveyed by John Owen here is one that, to Orthodox Christianity, is one that is conveyed to believers. Sin is a life-long struggle, not something that goes away because of our faith in Christ. Honestly, our faith in Christ makes us, or at least me, all the more aware of our sins. The bulk of Paul’s writing in Romans 7 deals heavily with this very subject, the knowledge of sin and its effect on a person. 

Recently, and I cannot find the source material for this, I heard, or read, a quote that goes along with John Owen’s words. It goes something like this, “If you want to be killing any of the sins in your life, you have to be working to kill all of the sins in your life.” (Now, if someone reading this recognizes this, please point me in the direction of where it is from.) I have been dwelling on this for about a week or so now, asking people on social media, the Logos Bible Software forums, and the Puritan Pub social media platform, and everyone who has responded brings it around to The Mortification of Sin by John Owen and the be killing sin quote. 

The reason I have been so stirred by this idea is that it is something that I know I am dealing with right now, wanting to deal with some bigger sins in life, but let the smaller (or at least what I perceive as smaller) sin in my life have a pass. Brothers, this should not be! I should not have this attitude, yet this is an attitude towards sin that is pervasive throughout the world we live in today. Whether you view as subjective morality, where each person defines their own right from wrong, or just as the denial of a certain action (or whatever it may be) as not sin, which is a denial of the Scriptures. Regardless of where the world falls in the spectrum of the denial of sin and what the Scripture says about it, sin is still sin, and we must strive towards killing it all. And I completely understand that we will not ever be able to be sinless on this side of eternity, but we are called to be more like Christ, through the process of sanctification, until we reach glorification as we enter the other side of eternity.

My exhortation is this: Do not let sin, any sin, gain a foothold in your life. Don’t let the world persuade you to believe the lie that sin is not sin, or that it’s not that bad. Remember, all it takes is one sin to suffer the guilt of sin (James 2:10), as it only took one act of disobedience, of sin, to bring death into the world (Genesis 3). My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, keep up the good fight (1 Tim. 6:12), and when you fall (and you will – Acts 3:23), repent (Luke 17:3, Acts 3:19), tighten your armor, pick your sword up, and fight on (Eph. 6:10-20)!