diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/inode.c b/fs/ocfs2/inode.c
index 4903688f72a..7aa00d51187 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/inode.c
@@ -1106,6 +1106,12 @@ void ocfs2_clear_inode(struct inode *inode)
 	oi->ip_last_trans = 0;
 	oi->ip_dir_start_lookup = 0;
 	oi->ip_blkno = 0ULL;
+
+	/*
+	 * ip_jinode is used to track txns against this inode. We ensure that
+	 * the journal is flushed before journal shutdown. Thus it is safe to
+	 * have inodes get cleaned up after journal shutdown.
+	 */
 	jbd2_journal_release_jbd_inode(OCFS2_SB(inode->i_sb)->journal->j_journal,
 				       &oi->ip_jinode);
 
diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/journal.c b/fs/ocfs2/journal.c
index 81e40677eec..99fe9d584f3 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/journal.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/journal.c
@@ -690,6 +690,7 @@ void ocfs2_journal_shutdown(struct ocfs2_super *osb)
 
 	/* Shutdown the kernel journal system */
 	jbd2_journal_destroy(journal->j_journal);
+	journal->j_journal = NULL;
 
 	OCFS2_I(inode)->ip_open_count--;