Power and Efficacy of Indwelling Sin, by John Owen.

Power and Efficacy of Indwelling Sin, by John Owen. The following contain Chapter Two of his work, "The Nature, Power, Deceit, and the Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers."

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
— Romans 7:21-23

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
— Romans 6:12

For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
— 2 Chronicles 30:18-19

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
— Romans 8:7

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.
— Romans 6:19

Indwelling sin a law — In what sense it is so called — What kind of law it is — An inward effective principle called a law — The power of sin thence evinced.

That which we have proposed unto consideration is the power and efficacy of indwelling sin. The ways whereby it may be evinced are many. I shall begin with the appellation of it in the place before mentioned. It is a law. "I find a law," saith the apostle. It is because of its power and efficacy that it is so called. So is also the principle of grace in believers the "law of the Spirit of life," as we observed before, Romans 8:2; which is the "exceeding greatness of the power of God" in them, Ephesians 1:19. Where there is a law there is power.

We shall, therefore, show both what belongs unto it as it is a law in general, and also what is peculiar or proper in it as being such a law as we have described.

There are in general two things attending every law, as such: —

First, Dominion. Romans 7:1, "The law hath dominion over a man whilst he liveth:" Kurieu,ei tou/ avnqrw,ou — "It lordeth it over a man." Where any law takes place, kurieu,ei, it hath dominion. It is properly the act of a superior, and it belongs to its nature to exact obedience by way of dominion. Now, there is a twofold dominion, as there is a twofold law. There is a moral authoritative dominion over a man, and there is a real effective dominion in a man. The first is an affection of the law of God, the latter of the law of sin. The law of sin hath not in itself a moral dominion, — it hath not a rightful dominion or authority over any man; but it hath that which is equivalent unto it; whence it is said basileu,ein, "to reign as a king," Romans 6:12, and kurieu,ein "to lord it," or have dominion, verse 14, as a law in general is said to have, chap. 7:1. But because it hath lost its complete dominion in reference unto believers, of whom alone we speak, I shall not insist upon it in this utmost extent of its power. But even in them it is a law still; though not a law unto them, yet, as was said, it is a law in them. And though it have not a complete, and, as it were, a rightful dominion over them, yet it will have a domination as to some things in them. It is still a law, and that in them; so that all its actings are the actings of a law, — that is, it acts with power, though it have lost its complete power of ruling in them. Though it be weakened, yet its nature is not thawed. It is a law still, and therefore powerful. And as its particular workings, which we shall afterward consider, are the ground of this appellation, so the term itself teacheth us in general what we are to expect from it, and what endeavors it will use for dominion, to which it hath been accustomed.

Secondly, A law, as a law, hath an efficacy to provoke those that are obnoxious unto it unto the things that it requireth. A law hath rewards and punishments accompanying of it. These secretly prevail on them to whom they are proposed, though the things commanded be not much desirable. And generally all laws have their efficacy on the minds of men, from the rewards and punishments that are annexed unto them. Nor is this law without this spring of power: it hath its rewards and punishments. The pleasures of sin are the rewards of sin; a reward that most men lose their souls to obtain. By this the law of sin contended in Moses against the law of grace.

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