Romans 7

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Verse 24)

This is getting personal. 

If Paul—who has been laying out the beauty of this relationship with God, which all flows from God’s grace—writes the above statement about himself, then does it get you in your mind to ask, “Am I a wretch?” 

In our day and age we don’t like this language. We want our kids to have a positive self- image. Much of this emphasis is reportedly in reaction to the Church, which was always telling people they were sinners and that they needed to be holy. The Church produced dour people, neurotic, and full of self-doubt, at least that is one view. No doubt we in the Church have earned this label to some degree. 

The reaction has been to not only stop talking about sin, but eradicate any reference to it! 

There are some places that are re-writing certain lines of Old Hymns. For example, in John Newton’s famous hymn Amazing Grace, the line that he wrote as, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me” was re-written to “that saved and set me free.” 

The solution is not to pretend sin does not exist. The solution is what Paul is driving at: to realize God has dealt with it. We are covered in grace and live thankfully and joyfully for God. That is in fact how chapter 7 ends. Let’s circle back just a bit and look at this passage. 

You might recall that in chapter 6 Paul was responding to his critics with regard to their accusation that he is preaching that people should sin more so that grace will increase. He has dealt with this charge, but in some way, so typical of Paul, he won’t let go of this charge.

In verses 1-6 he again points out that the law has no binding authority. Then in verses 7-25 he does two things: 

He esteems the law and he emphasizes how serious he is with regard to living a holy life. It is the law that guides him—not for salvation, but for right-living. 

Paul in this chapter again deals with the three people mentioned in chapter 4: 

1.   The legalist who demands that it is the law that must be completely kept in order to be right with God. 

2.   The person who says we are completely free to do whatever we want (the technical name is antinomianism; nomos is the Greek word for the law and they are “anti-law”). 

3.   The law-fulfilling free people. This last group who are the people who love the law, not because it saves, but because it leads to a life that both pleases God and leads to peace for those who live it. Paul knows this, but in dramatic language he shares with us that he knows the internal struggle. 

Re-read verses 15-25. 

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 

This is dramatic. Paul has answered those who think his view of grace gives license to do whatever they want. He shows that while the law is not helpful for salvation, it does instruct us in our lives as we seek to live for God. 

And here is the thing, living for God is a challenge. 

We have this human nature, that we believe by faith is put to death, yet which keeps trying to rear its ugly head. Yet God has not given up on us; he has dealt with it. God will not abandon us; he knows we fall down while we are on this trek and he loves to help us up. 

I am not sure how you view this chapter with regards to your self- image?

If you are struggling with the idea of wretched, let me close with how Paul has confronted the reality that we, even as Christians, sin (vice pretended it doesn’t exist)—and that God has completely dealt with it all!

In responding to these issues, he is a bit like a dog with a bone and he just won’t let go—because it is the crux of how the Gospel fits! 

You and I are made in the image of God, and in fact by Jesus’ redemptive work on the Cross, we are by God’s grace to live into the image. 

Is your self-image informed by the fact that you are made in God’s image self-image?