Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
~ Romans 6:12
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
~ Romans 8:2
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
~ Romans 3:19-20
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
~ Galatians 5:18
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
~ Romans 6:15-23
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
~ John 1:17
Graces and Duties to be Exercised for Its Mortification, by John Owen. The following contains excerpts from Chapter Three of his work, “A Treatise of the Dominion of Sin and Grace, Wherein Sin’s Reign is Discovered, In Whom It Is, And In Whom It is Not; How the Law Supports It; How Grace Delivers From It, By Setting Up Its Dominion in the Heart”.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.—Rom. 6:14.
The first is, the daily exercise of faith on Christ as crucified. This is the great fundamental means of the mortification of sin in general, and which we ought to apply unto every particular instance of it…
Secondly, Another duty necessary unto this end is continual prayer, and this is to be considered as unto its application to the prevalency of any particular lust wherein sin doth in a peculiar manner exert its power. This is the great ordinance of God for its mortification; for,—
[1.] Hereby we obtain spiritual aids and supplies of strength against it. We are not more necessarily and fervently to pray that sin may be pardoned as to its guilt, than we are that it may be subdued as to its power. He who is negligent in the latter is never in good earnest in the former. The pressures and troubles which we receive from the power of sin are as pungent on the mind as those from its guilt are on the conscience. Mere pardon of sin will never give peace unto a soul, though it can have none without it. It must be mortified also, or we can have no spiritual rest. Now, this is the work of prayer,—namely, to seek and obtain such supplies of mortifying, sanctifying grace, as whereby the power of sin may be broken, its strength abated, its root withered, its life destroyed, and so the whole old man crucified. That which was the apostle’s request for the Thessalonians is the daily prayer of all believers for themselves, 1 Thess. 5:23. [2.] A constant attendance unto this duty in a due manner will preserve the soul in such a frame as wherein sin cannot habitually prevail in it. He that can live in sin and abide in the ordinary duties of prayer doth never once pray as he ought. Formality, or some secret reserve or other, vitiates the whole. A truly gracious, praying frame (wherein we pray always) is utterly inconsistent with the love of or reserve for any sin. To pray well is to pray always,—that is, to keep the heart always in that frame which is required in prayer; and where this is, sin can have no rule, no, nor quiet harbour, in the soul.
[3.] It is the soul’s immediate conflict against the power of sin. Sin in it is formally considered as the soul’s enemy, which fights against it. In prayer the soul sets itself to grapple with it, to wound, kill, and destroy. It is that whereby it applies all its spiritual engines unto its utter ruin; herein it exerciseth a gracious abhorrency of it, a clear self-condemnation on the account of it; and engageth faith on all the promises of God for its conquest and destruction.
It is hence evident that if sin hath prevailed in the mind unto a negligence of this duty, either in general or as unto the effectual application of it unto any especial case where it exerts its power, it is an ill symptom of the dominion of sin in the soul.
It is certain that unmortified sin, sin indulged unto, will gradually work out all due regard unto this duty of prayer, and alienate the mind from it, either as unto the matter or manner of its performance. We see this exemplified every day in apostate professors. They have had a gift of prayer, and were constant in the exercise of it; but the love of sin and living in it hath devoured their gift, and wholly taken off their minds from the duty itself: which is the proper character of hypocrites. “Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?” Job 27:10. He may do so for a season, but, falling under the power of sin, he will not continue so to do.
Now, because sin useth great deceit herein, in a gradual progress for attaining its end, and thereby securing its dominion, we may, in a way of warning or caution, take notice of some of its steps, that the entrance of it may be opposed: for as the “entrance of God’s word giveth light,” Ps. 119:130,—the first putting forth of its power on the soul gives spiritual light unto the mind, which is to be improved,—so the entrance of sin, the first actings of it on the mind, towards the neglect of this duty, brings a deceiving darkness with them, which is to be opposed:—
1st. It will produce in the mind an unreadiness unto this duty in its proper season. The heart should always rejoice in the approach of such seasons, because of the delight in God which it hath in them. To rejoice and be glad in all our approaches unto God is every way required of us; and therefore, with the thoughts of and on the approach of such seasons, we ought to groan in ourselves for such a preparedness of mind as may render us meet for that converse with God which we are called unto. But where sin begins to prevail, all things will be unready and out of order. Strange tergiversations will rise in the mind, either as unto the duty itself or as unto the manner of its performance. Customariness and formality are the principles which act themselves in. this case. The body seems to carry the mind to the duty whether it will or no, rather than the mind to lead the body in its part of it; and it will employ itself in any thing rather than in the work and duty that lies before it.
Herein, then, lies a great part of our wisdom in obviating the power of sin in us: Let us keep our hearts continually in a gracious disposition and readiness for this duty, in all its proper seasons. If you lose this ground, you will yeb go more backwards continually. Know, therefore, that there is no more effectual preservative of the soul from the power of sin than a gracious readiness for and disposition unto this duty in private and public, according to its proper seasons.
2dly. In its progress, unto unreadiness it will add unwilingness; for the mind prepossessed by sin finds it directly contrary unto its present interest, disposition, and inclination. There is nothing in it but what troubles and disquiets them; as be said of the prophet who was not willing to hear him any more, it speaks not good but evil of them continually. Hence a secret unwillingness prevails in the mind, and an aversation from a serious engagement in it; and the attendance of such persons to it is as if they were under a force, in a compliance with custom and convictions.
3dly. Sin will at length prevail unto a total neglect of this duty. This is an observation confirmed by long experience: If prayer do not constantly endeavour the ruin of sin, sin will ruin prayer, and utterly alienate the soul from it. This is the way of backsliders in heart; as they grow in sin they decay in prayer, until they are weary of it and utterly relinquish it. So they speak, Mal. 1:13, “Behold, what a weariness is it!” and, “Ye have snuffed at it.” They look on it as a task, as a burden, and are weary in attending unto it.
Now, when I place this as an effect of the prevalency of sin,—namely, a relinquishment of the duty of prayer,—I do not intend that persons do wholly and absolutely, or as to all ways of it, public and private, and all seasons or occasions of it, give it over utterly. Few rise to that profligacy in sin, unto such desperate resolution against God. It may be they will still attend unto the stated seasons of prayer in families or public assemblies, at least drawing near to God with their lips; and they will, on surprisals and dangers, personally cry unto God, as the Scripture everywhere testifieth of them. But this only I intend,— namely, that they will no more sincerely, immediately, and directly, apply prayer to the mortification and ruin of that lust or corruption wherein sin puts forth its power and rule in them; and where it is so, it seems to have the dominion. Of such an one saith the psalmist, “He hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil,” Ps. 36:3‚ 4.
But such a relinquishment of this duty, as unto the end mentioned, as is habitual, and renders the soul secure under it, is intended; for there may, through the power of temptation, be a prevalency of this evil in believers for a season. So God complains of his people, Isa. 43:22, “Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel;” that is, comparatively, as unto the fervency and sincerity of the duty required of them. Now, when it is thus with believers for a season, through the power of sin and temptation,— (1st.) They do not approve of themselves therein. They will ever and anon call things to consideration, and say, “It is not with us as it should be, or as it was in former days. This thing is not good that we do, nor will it be peace in the latter end.” (2dly.) They will have secret resolutions of shaking themselves out of the dust of this evil state. They say in themselves, “We will go and return unto our first husband, for then was it better with us than now;” as the church did, Hosea 2:7. (3dly.) Every thing that peculiarly befalls them, in a way of mercy or affliction, they look on as calls from God to deliver and recover them from their backsliding frame. (4thly.) They will receive in the warnings which are given them by the word preached, especially if their particular case be touched on or laid open. (5thly.) They will have no quiet, rest, or self-approbation, until they come thoroughly off unto a healing and recovery, such as that described, Hosea 14:1–4.
Thus it may be witn some over whom sin hath not the dominion; yet ought the first entrance of it to be diligently watched against, as that which tends unto the danger and ruin of the soul.
Thirdly, Constant self-abasement, condemnation, and abhorrency, is another duty that is directly opposed unto the interest and rule of sin in the soul. No frame of mind is a better antidote against the poison of sin. “He that walketh humbly walketh surely.” God hath a continual regard unto mourners, those that are of a “broken heart and a contrite spirit.” It is the soil where all grace will thrive and flourish. A constant due sense of sin as sin, of our interest therein by nature and in the course of our lives, with a continual afflictive remembrance of some such instances of it as have had peculiar aggravations, issuing in a gracious self-abasement, is the soul’s best posture in watching against all the deceits and incursions of sin. And this is a duty which we ought with all diligence to attend unto.
To keep our souls in a constant frame of mourning and self-abasement is the most necessary part of our wisdom with reference unto all the ends of the life of God; and it is so far from having any inconsistency with those consolations and joys which the gospel tenders unto us in believing, as that it is the only way to let them into the soul in a due manner. It is such mourners, and those alone, unto whom evangelical comforts are administered, Isa. 57:18.
One of the first things that sin doth when it aims at dominion is the destruction of this frame of mind; and when it actually hath the rule, it will not suffer it to enter. It makes men careless and regardless of this matter, yea, bold, presumptuous, and fearless; it will obstruct all the entrance into the mind of such self-reflections and considerations as lead unto this frame; it will represent them either as needless or unseasonable, or make the mind afraid of them, as things which tend unto its disquietment and disturbance without any advantage. If it prevail herein, it makes way for the security of its own dominion. Nothing is more watched against than a proud, regardless, senseless, secure frame of heart, by them who are under the rule of grace.
4. A reserve for any one known sin, against the light and efficacy of convictions, is an argument of the dominion of sin. So was it in the case of Naaman. He would do all other things, but put in an exception for that whereon his honour and profit did depend. Where there is sincerity in conviction, it extends itself unto all sins; for it is of sin as sin, and so of every known sin equally, that hath the nature of sin in it. And to be true to convictions is the life of sincerity. If men can make a choice of what they will except and reserve, notwithstanding their being convinced of its evil, it is from the ruling power of sin. Pleas in the mind in the behalf of any sin, that is, for a continuance in it, prevalent thereunto, ruin all sin cerity. It may be the pretence is that it is but a little one, of no great moment, and that which shall be compensated with other duties of obedience; or it shall be retained only until a fitter season for its relinquishment; or men may be blinded after conviction to dispute again whether what they would abide in be sinful or no, as is the case frequently with respect unto covetousness, pride, and conformity to the world. It is a dreadful effect of the ruling power of sin. Whatever impeacheth the universality of obedience in one thing overthrows its sincerity in all things.
5. Hardness of heart, so frequently mentioned and complained of in the Scripture, is another evidence of the dominion of sin. But because there are various degrees also hereof‚ they must be considered, that we may judge aright what of it is an evidence of that dominion, and what may be consistent with the rule of grace; for it is that mysterious evil whereof the best men do most complain, and whereof the worst have no sense at all.
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