The Mortification of Sin
John Owen · 1656
A short classic on the daily fight with sin: not managing or hiding it, but putting it to death by the Spirit.
1648 · Theology
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ
A Treatise of the Redemption and Reconciliation That Is in the Blood of Christ
When John Owen wrote this book, in his early thirties, many in England were teaching that Christ died for every person alike, and that whether anyone is saved depends finally on them. Owen held that this made what Christ purchased “not salvation, but a salvability,” where Scripture shows the cross accomplishing what the Father and the Son had agreed upon from eternity.
So he goes back to the Bible and asks what the Father, the Son and the Spirit meant to do at the cross, and what Christ's death really won: not a chance of salvation for everyone, but redemption, reconciliation and new life for all his people. Then he answers, one by one, every argument and text brought against him. It is long and close, and it has been the classic statement of its side of the question ever since.
- About 15 hours to read (192,000 words)
- A substantial, demanding read
- Readers ready for a long, careful argument about the heart of the gospel.
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Then & Now
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This book is already in modern English. Compare it with its source and see each small correction the editor made.
The source text
Twelfthly, Whether it be fair and allowable, for men professing the name of Christ, in the trial of truth, to decline the word of God? And whether such declension be not an invincible demonstration of a guilt of falsehood? Deut. iv. 2, xii. 32; Josh. i. 7; Ps. xix. 7; Prov. xxx. 6; Isa. viii. 20; Luke i. 4, xvi. 29; John v. 39, xx. 30, 31; Gal. i. 8, 9; 2 Thess. ii. 2; 1 Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; 2 Pet. i. 19, etc.
Today
Twelfthly, Whether it be fair and allowable, for men professing the name of Christ, in the trial of truth, to decline the word of God? And whether such declension be not an invincible demonstration of a guilt of falsehood? Deut 4:‸2; 12:‸32; Josh 1:‸7; Ps 19:‸7; Prov 30:‸6; Isa 8:‸20; Luke 1:‸4; 16:‸29; John 5:‸39; 20:‸30, 31; Gal 1:‸8, 9; 2 Thess 2:‸2; 1 Tim 6:‸20; 2 Tim 3:‸16, 17; 2 Pet 1:‸19, etc.
About this edition
Faithful, and easier to read
Owen's Death of Death in the Death of Christ in William Goold's text, as CCEL gives it, with CCEL's slips corrected against Goold's printing and Owen's own wording, chiefly his quotations of Scripture, restored from the 1648 first edition.
98.5% of the words are exactly as in the source. The rest are small corrections, each one recorded.
Open Then & Now- First published
- 1648
- Made from
- Goold's Works of John Owen, vol. 10 (1850–53), as kept by CCEL
How this edition was made
Sources
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About the authorJohn Owen 1616–1683Oxford scholar, chaplain to Cromwell, and a doctor of the soul.