Wordwatch - Mortification

M O R T I F I C A T I O N

It's the time of year leading up to Easter where you might hear in some traditional Christians circles, the concept of the 'mortification of the flesh'.  What is mortification all about?

I continue to be amazed at how much of the 'honour/shame' dynamic has been present yet 'submerged' in the Western culture and English language.  In more recent decades we have skirted around the concept and skipped over it, almost ignoring its presence so much that we began to function as if it wasn't there.  Yet it didn't ever go away.  It was always there, subtly permeating more than we dared examine or admit.  

Matters of shame were shameful to expose, so it was best to be hidden or ignored.

But shame is not a beast to be hidden or ignored.  It will emerge, we can count on that.

Hidden away even in our English language are little windows to the reality of shame that once had greater weight in society.  

So at this time of year I thought I would take a look at a word which appears both in general and 'christian' usage, one that if we thought more about, we would have a greater appreciation for what Scripture has to say. 

The Word is:

Mortification

 - we think of this word in the church in relation to 'putting sin to death'.  'Mors' is the Latin root referring to death.

- 'mortify' meaning 'to kill' comes into the English language around C14 from the French (mortifier - to overwhelm, punish) where it had earlier come from the Latin.

- the religious sense of 'subdue the flesh' seems to have come into use in the early C15

- it is first recorded in the sense of 'to humiliate' around the 1690's

(above data sourced from the Online Etymology Dictionary)

We most often hear this word in the context of someone doing something they wish they hadn't, something which was public and severely embarrassing.  A person will say "I'm just mortified".

Interestingly, in this word, the concept of 'death' became linked to the concept of 'shame'.  "I am mortified" carries then the connotation that the shame is so great it is like it has destroyed/killed me....like 'I want to just curl up in a hole and die' we might say.  We want to hide, not be seen, and just disappear like we had never been born!  

The linking of shame to death is actually very biblical, especially when we look at Daniel 12:2 where eternal life is contrasted with eternal shame.

When we avoid talking often about shame that feels like death, we also remove the opportunity to talk about the shame aspects of sin, and God's remedy for shame.  His life given to us in Christ, is not just to give us innocence in place of guilt, but honour in place of shame.

Like with any 'disease', ignoring it will not make it go away.....but lack of acknowledgement will also separate us from accessing the very remedy that will provide the cure.

When we acknowledge the shame of our sin before God, we are not in a bad place but a good place, because it is God alone who has the remedy for Shame.

So if we are to 'mortify' sin, we are not just meant to ignore it.  We are meant to 'put it to death' like it wants to 'put us to death eternally'.  (Colossians 3:5)

Remember how Jesus 'despised the shame' (ie the shame he was made to feel -  he in turn shamed, as he won victory over it)?  We are to put sin in such a place in our lives that it is in a despised place - a place that we won't go near. A place where it is 'killed'.  

We are not to just hate to be mortified, but hate the sin enough to mortify it.

Instead of being given the place of honour in submitting to its temptation, we reject sin as worthless, destructive and despicable!  

We are not simply meant to feel 'mortified' by our sin, but to bring mortification to our sin.  

Sin wants to put us in a shameful place.  We are to put sin in its shameful place!