John Owen Quotes on Sin, Temptation, Forgiveness and Christ
John Owen (1616–1683) was the great theologian of the English Puritans. His books are long and his sentences can be hard going, but scattered through them are lines so sharp and true that Christians have been quoting them for more than three hundred years. The most famous is "be killing sin or it will be killing you."
Many Owen quotes online are paraphrased, modernized or given without a source. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, old spelling and all, with the book and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. For his life story, see who was John Owen. For a guide to his books, see John Owen books.
On killing sin
These come from Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, his short book on Romans 8:13, "if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Owen insists that putting sin to death is every believer's daily work.
Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 2
Indwelling sin always abides whilst we are in this world; therefore it is always to be mortified.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 2
There is not the best saint in the world, but, if he should give over this duty, would fall into as many cursed sins as ever any did of his kind.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 2
He warns that sin never stays small:
Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 2
Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 2
An unmortified lust will drink up the spirit, and all the vigour of the soul, and weaken it for all duties.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 4
On the Spirit and the cross
Owen had no time for self-improvement dressed up as religion. Only the Holy Spirit can kill sin, and only through Christ's death.
All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 1
Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention … is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 1
There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 7
Hatred of sin as sin, not only as galling or disquieting, a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lie at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 8
And his great direction, at the end of the book:
Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yea, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet.
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, chapter 14
On temptation
From Of Temptation, on Christ's words "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation."
Whilst Satan continues in his power and malice, whilst the world and lust are in being, we shall be tempted.
Of Temptation, chapter 2
We shall never know what strength there is in grace, if we know not what strength there is in temptation.
Of Temptation, chapter 1
All our own strength is weakness, and all our wisdom folly.
Of Temptation, chapter 1
If the head be heavy and slumber in the things of grace, if the heart be cold in duties, evil lies at the door.
Of Temptation, chapter 4
Formality in religion will be apt to creep upon thee; and that lays the soul open to all temptations in their full power and strength.
Of Temptation, chapter 6
The faithfulness of the Father, the grace of the Son, the power of the Spirit, all are engaged in our preservation.
Of Temptation, chapter 8
On the heart and indwelling sin
From Indwelling Sin in Believers, his deeper study of the sin that remains in Christians.
Wherever you are, whatever you are about, this law of sin is always in you; in the best that you do, and in the worst.
Indwelling Sin in Believers, Indwelling Sin a Law
Sin is enmity to God as God, and therefore to all of God.
Indwelling Sin in Believers, Indwelling Sin Enmity Against God
Grace changeth the nature of man, but nothing can change the nature of sin.
Indwelling Sin in Believers, Indwelling Sin Enmity Against God
Save all other things, and lose the heart, and all is lost, lost to all eternity.
Indwelling Sin in Believers, The Working of Sin by Deceit to Entangle the Affections
He that pleads with God for sin’s remission, pleads also with his own heart for its detestation.
Indwelling Sin in Believers, The Deceit of Sin in Drawing Off the Mind from a Due Attendance to Especial Duties of Obedience
Be always serious in spiritual things, if ever you intend to be bettered by them.
Indwelling Sin in Believers, Decays in Degrees of Grace Caused by Indwelling Sin
On forgiveness
Owen wrote as much for the troubled conscience as for the careless one. These come from his exposition of Psalm 130.
Pardon flows immediately from a sovereign act of free grace.
The Forgiveness of Sin, Nature of Forgiveness
All men equally need the love of God and pardon of sin.
The Forgiveness of Sin, Relief in God Alone
The only attempt of a sin-entangled soul for relief lies in an application to God alone.
The Forgiveness of Sin, Relief in God Alone
A sense of God’s presence in love is sufficient to rebuke all anxiety and fears; and not only so, but to give, in the midst of them, solid consolation and joy.
The Forgiveness of Sin, The Soul in the Depths of Sin
For faith is the spring and root of all other graces; and, according as it thrives or abates, so do they all.
The Forgiveness of Sin, Rules for Obtaining Forgiveness, Continued
He sums up the whole book this way:
There is forgiveness with God, which is the life and soul of all our hope, religion, and worship.
The Forgiveness of Sin, The Greatness of Forgiveness; Prevailing Unbelief
On loving God
From The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded.
Where God is not loved above all, he is not loved at all
The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, Decays in Spiritual Affections, with Their Causes and Danger
If we cannot afford unto God our spare time, it is evident that indeed we can afford nothing at all.
The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, Other Evidences of Thoughts About Spiritual Things
The heart of the Spirit of God is infinitely more tender towards us, than that of the most affectionate parent can be towards an only child.
The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, Decays in Spiritual Affections, with Their Causes and Danger
On the glory of Christ
Owen's last book was a meditation on the glory of Christ, and he wrote of Him with deep love.
Wherefore, let no man deceive himself: he that hath no sight of the glory of Christ here, shall never have any of it hereafter unto his advantage.
The Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, Glory of Christ: The Explanation of the Text
For love proceeding from sight, is the life of the church above; as love proceeding from faith is the life of the church below.
The Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, The Especial Principle of Obedience unto the Person of Christ, Which Is Love
Nothing is in him of an higher spiritual nourishment than his love, which we should always desire.
The Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, The Glory of Christ in His Love
All springs are in him, and all streams are unto him, and in and by him unto God.
The Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, The Glory of Christ in the Recapitulation of All Things in Him
If we love not Christ more than all these things, we love him not at all.
The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, The Objects of Spiritual Affections
On the atonement
The famous dilemma from The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, Owen's argument that Christ died to actually save His people:
God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell for, either all the sins of all men, or all the sins of some men, or some sins for all men
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, Book I, Book I, Chapter III
His last words in writing
Two days before he died, Owen dictated a letter to a friend. It's printed in the life of Owen at the front of his works on Christ:
I am going to him whom my soul has loved, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the whole ground of all my consolation.
The Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, The Life of the Author
Read them in context
Most of these lines come from his short book on temptation and the mortification of sin, the best place to start reading Owen. Then read The Forgiveness of Sin. All his books are on the John Owen author page, and our list of the best Puritan books suggests where to go next.