Romans 7:24

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE BODY OF THIS DEATH? The apostle speaks of the "body" here with reference to "the law of sin" which he had said was "in his members," but merely as the instrument by which the sin of the heart finds vent in action, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites (see the note at , and at ); and he calls it "the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death into which it dragged him down (, and again at ). But the language is not that of a sinner newly awakened to the sight of his lost s...

24._Miserable_, _etc. _He closes his argument with a vehement exclamation, by which he teaches us that we are not only to struggle with our flesh, but also with continual groaning to bewail within ourselves and before God our unhappy condition. But he asks not by whom he was to be delivered, as one in doubt, like unbelievers, who understand not that there is but one real deliverer: but it is the voice of one panting and almost fainting, because he does not find immediate help, (232) as he longs for. And he mentions the word rescue, (233) in order that he might show, that for his liberation no ordinary exercise of divine power was necessary. By the _body of death _he means the whole mass of sin, or those ingredients of which the whole man is composed; except that in him there remained only relics, by the captive bonds of which he was held. The pronoun...

23-25 This passage does not represent the apostle as one that walked after the flesh, but as one that had it greatly at heart, not to walk so. And if there are those who abuse this passage, as they also do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction, yet serious Christians find cause to bless God for having thus provided for their support and comfort. We are not, because of the abuse of such as are blinded by their own lusts, to find fault with the scripture, or any just and well warranted interpretation of it. And no man who is not engaged in this conflict, can clearly understand the meaning of these words, or rightly judge concerning this painful conflict, which led the apostle to bemoan himself as a wretched man, constrained to what he abhorred. He could not deliver himself; and this made him the more fervently thank God for the way of salvation revealed through Jesus Christ, whic...

Verse Romans 7:24. _O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM_, c.] This affecting account is finished more impressively by the _groans_ of the _wounded_ captive. Having long maintained a useless conflict against innumerable hosts and irresistible might, he is at last _wounded_ and taken prisoner and to render his state more miserable, is not only encompassed by the slaughtered, but _chained to a dead body_; for there seems to be here an allusion to an ancient custom of certain tyrants, who bound a _dead body_ to a _living man_, and obliged him to carry it about, till the contagion from the putrid mass took away his life! _Virgil_ paints this in all its horrors, in the account he gives of the tyrant Mezentius. _AEneid_, lib. viii. ver. 485. _Quid memorem infandas caedes? quid facta tyranni?_...

O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! - The feeling implied by this lamentation is the result of this painful conflict; and this frequent subjection to sinful propensities. The effect of this conflict is, (1) To produce pain and distress. It is often an agonizing struggle between good and evil; a struggle which annoys the peace, and renders life wretched. (2) It tends to produce humility. It is humbling to man to be thus under the influence of evil passions. It is degrading to his nature; a stain on his glory; and it tends to bring him into the dust, that he is under the control of such propensities, and so often gives indulgence to them. In such circumstances, the mind is overwhelmed with wretchedness, and instinctively sighs for relief. Can the Law aid? Can man aid? Can any native strength of conscience or of reason aid? In vain all these are tried, and the Christian then calmly and

EXPOSITION ROMANS 7:1 Here comes in the third illustration of the moral obligation of the baptized. It rests on the recognized principle that _death _cancels the claims of human law on a person (cf. Romans 6:7); and this with especial reference to the law of marriage, as being peculiarly applicable to the subject to be illustrated, since the Church is elsewhere regarded as married to Christ. As has been observed above, it is from _the Law _that Christians are now said to be emancipated in the death of Christ; not from _sin, as _in the previous sections. Hence this section might at first sight seem to introduce a new line of thought. But it is really a continuation of the same, though differently viewed; for, in the sense intended by St. Paul, being under th

O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM,.... Not as considered in Christ, for as such he was a most happy man, being blessed with all spiritual blessings, and secure from all condemnation and wrath; nor with respect to his inward man, which was renewing day by day, and in which he enjoyed true spiritual peace and pleasure; nor with regard to his future state, of the happiness of which he had no doubt: he knew in whom he had believed; he was fully persuaded nothing could separate him from the love of God; and that when he had finished his course, he should have the crown of righteousness laid up for him: but this exclamation he made on account of the troubles he met with in his Christian race; and not so much on account of his reproaches, persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake; though these were many and great, yet these did not move or much affect him, he rather took delight and pleasure in the...

Romans 7:1. _Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress, but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man._ He merely states this as an illustration. Romans 7:4. _Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God._...

FROM THE BODY Or, out of this body of death. (Romans 8:11); (1 Corinthians 15:51); (1 Corinthians 15:52); (1 Thessalonians 4:14)....

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Law and its Dominion. (Romans 7:1 .)_ 2. Dead to the Law and Married to Another. (Romans 7:4 .) 3. Concerning the Law; its Activities and Purpose. (Romans 7:7 .) 4. The Experience of a Believer in Bondage to the Law. (Romans 7:14 .) 5. The Triumphant note of Deliverance. (Romans 7:25 .) Romans 7:1 The law is now more fully taken up. We have learned before that by the works of the law no man can be justified before God. But