The Methodological Characteristics of Mortification in John Calvin and John Owen

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article highlights how the method and application of sanctification have developed through a comparative analysis of the characteristics of John Calvin and John Owen’s methodology of sanctification, which was the background of the methods of sanctification in Reformed theology. In particular, the characteristics of the theory of mortification and suppressing sin, which is a negative perspective of sanctification, the modes and dispositions of the mortification, and the responsibility and duty of the believers’ mortification were examined. It explores the means of sanctification given by the veins of faith. Calvin, who laid the cornerstone of Reformed theology, and Owen, the perfector of British Puritan theology, share almost the same understanding of the theory of mortification. Still, with differences in the way, the means of grace arising in the process of mortifying sins are used.
While Calvin emphasized the operation of the Father based on God’s sovereignty, Owen focused more on Christ’s incarnation and the crucifixion by concentrating on the fellowship and mystic union with Christ.
The two Reformers, however, emphasized that even after the believer was justified and adopted as a child of Christ, sin and sinful tendencies are always indwelling in the believer, and evil desires are spewing out.
It is argued that to mortify the sinfulness, the believers have a responsibility and duty to use the mean of grace actively.
There was no disagreement between the two scholars about the territory of indwelling sin. Both Calvin and Owen stipulated that the seat of the law of sin is the human mind, and Owen further analyzed this mind by subdividing it into will, emotion, and spirit. There were, however, some differences between the two men regarding the solution to sin through repentance. Calvin defined repentance as turning to God and fearing God and suggested the mortification and vivification as the components that fulfill it. Owen, however, analyzed more closely and understood that the mortification was the work of completely abolishing the principle of all strength of believer, vigor, and power, eliminating one’s physical desire and refreshing the mind, heart, and emotion from spiritual contamination. Owen defined the mortification as the process of sanctification from a soteriological point of view.

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