Jesus was delivering from the body of death

JESUS WAS DELIVERING FROM THE BODY OF DEATH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 7:24-25 24
Whata wretched man I am! Who
will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus
Christour LORD! So then, I myself in my mind am a
slaveto God's law, but in my sinful nature a slaveto
the law of sin.
VERSE 25 BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
A Cry And Its Answer
Romans 7:24, 25
S.R. Aldridge Strange language to issue from the lips of the greatapostle of
the Gentiles!from a chosenvesselunto honour, a man in labours abundant
and most blessed, with joy often rising to transport. Norwas it forced from
him by some momentary excitement or the pressure of some temporary
trouble. Nor is there any reference to outward afflictions and persecutions.
Had he cried out when under the agonizing scourge orin the dismal dungeon,
we had not been so surprised. But it is while he is enforcing truth drawn from
his owninward experience he so realizes the bitterness of the spiritual conflict,
that his language cannotbe restrainedwithin the limits of calm reasoning, and
he bursts forth with the exclamation, "O wretchedman," etc.!Some have
been so shockedas to callthis a miserable chapter, and have shifted the
difficulty by passing it on one side. Others have adopted the notion that he is
here describing, not his actual state, but the condition of an unregenerate man

such as he was once. Yet the expressionof the preceding verse, "I delight in
the Law of God," and the change of tense from the past to the present after
the thirteenth verse, indicate that we have here a vivid description of the
struggle that continues, though with better success, evenin the Christian who
is justified, but not wholly sanctified, whilst he is imprisoned in this "body of
death."
I. INQUIRE MORE CLOSELY INTO THE GROUND OF THIS
EXCLAMATION. What is it of which such grievous complaint is made? He
appeals for aid againsta strong foe whose graspis on his throat. The eyes of
the warriorgrow dim, his heart is faint, and, fearful of utter defeat, he cries,
"Who will deliver me?" We may explain "the body of this death" as meaning
this mortal body, the coffin of the soul, the seatand instrument of sin. But the
apostle includes still more in the phrase. It denotes sin itself, this carnalmass,
all the imperfections, the corrupt and evil passions ofthe soul. It is a body of
death, because it tends to death; it infects us, and brings us down to death.
The old man tries to strangle the new man, and, unlike the infant Hercules,
the Christian is in danger of being overcome by the snakes thatattack his
feebleness. How afflicting to one who loves God and desires to do his will, to
find himself thwarted at every turn, and that to succeedmeans a desperate
conflict! Attainments in the Divine life are not reachedwithout a struggle, and
non-successis not simply imperfection; it is failure, defeat, sin gaining the
mastery. This evil is grievous because it is so near and so constant. The man is
chained to a dead body. Where we go our enemy accompaniesus, ever ready
to assaultus, especiallywhen we are at a disadvantage from fatigue or
delusive security. Distantevils might be borne with some measure of
equanimity; we might have a signalof their approach, and be prepared, and
hope that, niter a sharp bout, they would retire. But like a sick man tormented
with a diseasedframe, so the "law of sin in the members" manifests its force
and uniform hostility in every place.
II. DERIVE CONSOLATION FROM THE EXCLAMATION ITSELF - from
the factof its utterance, its vehemency, etc.
1. Such a cry indicates the stirrings of Divine life within the soul. The man
must be visited with God's grace who is thus conscious ofhis spiritual nature,
and of a longing to shake off his unworthy bondage to evil. It may be the
beginning of better things if the impression be yielded to. Do not quit the fight,
lest you become like men who have been temporarily arousedand warned,
and have made vows of reformation, and then returned to their old apathy
and sleepin sin. And this attitude of watchfulness should never be abandoned
during your whole career.

2. The intensity of the cry discovers a thorough hatred of sin and a thirst after
holiness. It is a passionate outburst revealing the centraldepths. Such a
disclosure is not fit for all scenes and times; the conflictof the soul is too
solemn to be profaned by casualspectators. Yetwhat a mark of a renewed
nature is here displayed! What loathing of Corruption, as offensive to the
spiritual sense!Sin may still clog the feet of the Christian and sometimes cause
him to stumble, but he is never satisfiedwith such a condition, and calls aloud
for aid. Would that this sense ofthe enormity of sin were more prevalent;
that, like a speck of dust in the eye, there could be no ease till it be removed!
Sin is a foreignbody, a disturbing element, an intruder.
3. There is comfort in the very convictionof helplessness. The apostle sums up
his experience as if to say, "My human purposes come to nought. Betweenmy
will and the performance there is a sadhiatus. I find no help in myself." A
lessonwhich has to be learnt ere we really cry for a Deliverer, and value the
Saviour's intervention. Peter, by his threefold denial, was taught his weakness,
and then came the command, "Feedmy lambs" We are not prepared for
service in the kingdom until we confess our dependence on superhuman
succour.
III. THE CRY ADMITS OF A SATISFACTORYANSWER. A Liberator has
been found, so that the apostle is not in despair; he adds, "I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Christ assumedour body of death, crucified
it, and glorified it. Thus he "Condemnedsin in the flesh." He bruised the
serpent's head. Since our Leader has conquered, we shall share his triumph.
He quickens and sustains his followers by his Spirit. Strongeris he who is for
us than all againstus. His grace is the antidote to moral evil; by its power we
may contend victoriously. The indwelling Christ is the prophecy of ultimate,
complete victory. Eventually we shall quit this tabernacle of clay, and leave
behind us all the avenues to temptation, and the stings and infirmities of
which the body is the synonym. Clothed with a house from heaven, there shall
be no obstacle to perfect obedience - a service without wearinessand without
interruption. - S.R.A.

Biblical Illustrator
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:24, 25
Soul despotism
D. Thomas, D. D.I. THE SOUL'S OPPRESSIVE DESPOT. "The body of this
death." What is meant by this? Corrupt animalism. What is elsewhere called
the flesh with its corruptions and lusts. The body, intended to be an
instrument and servantof the soul, has become its sovereign, andkeeps all its
powerof intellect and consciencein subjection. Corrupt animalism is the
moral monarch of the world. It rules in literature, in politics, in science, and
even in churches. This despot is death to all true freedom, progress,
happiness.
II. THE SOUL'S STRUGGLE TO BE FREE. This implies —
1. A quickenedconsciousnessofits condition. "O wretched man that I am!
"The vast majority of souls, alas I are utterly insensible to this; hence they
remain passive. Whatquickens the soul into this consciousness?"The law."
The light of God's moral law flashes on the conscienceand startles it.
2. An earnestdesire for help. It feels its utter inability to haul the despot
down; and it cries mightily, "Who shall deliver me?" Who? Legislatures,
moralists, poets, philosophers, priesthoods? No;they have tried for ages, and
have failed. Who? There is One and but One, and to Him Paul alludes in the
next verse and the following chapter. "Thanks be to God," etc.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The cry of the Christian warrior
F. Bourdillon.The cry not of "a chained captive" to be setfree, but of a
"soldierin conflict" who looks round for succour. He is in the fight; he sees
the enemy advancing againsthim, with spearin hand, and chains ready to
throw over him; the soldier sees his danger, feels his weaknessand
helplessness, yethas no thought of yielding; he cries out, "Who shall deliver
me?" But it is not the cry of a vanquished but of a contending soldier of Jesus
Christ.
(F. Bourdillon.)
Victory in the hidden warfare

Bp. S. Wilberforce.To enterinto the full meaning of these words, we must
understand their place in the argument. The greattheme is openedin Romans
1:16. To establishthis, Paul begins by proving in the first four chapters that
both Jew and Gentile are utterly lost. In the fifth he shows that through Christ
peace with God may be brought into the conscience ofthe sinner. In the sixth
he proves that this truth, instead of being any excuse for sin, was the strongest
argument againstit, for it gave freedom from sin, which the law could never
do. And then, in this chapter, he inquires why the law could not bring this gift.
Before the law was given, man could not know what sin was, any more than
the unevenness of a crookedline can be known until it is placed beside
something that is straight. But when the law raised before his eyes a rule of
holiness, then, for the first time, his eyes were opened; he saw that he was full
of sin; and forthwith there sprang up a fearful struggle. Once he had been
"alive without the law";he had lived, that is, a life of unconscious, self-
contentedimpurity; but that life was gone from him, he could live it no longer.
The law, because it was just and good, wrought death in him; for it was a
revelation of death without remedy. "The law was spiritual," but he was
corrupt, "soldunder sin." Even when his struggling will did desire in some
measure a better course, still he was beatendown again by evil. "How to
perform that which was goodhe found not." Yea, "when he would do good,
evil was presentwith him." In vain there lookedin upon his soul the blessed
countenance ofan external holiness. Its angelgladness, ofwhich he could in
no way be made partaker, did but render darkerand more intolerable the
loathsome dungeon in which he was perpetually held. It was the fierce
struggle of an enduring death; and in its crushing agony, he cried aloud
againstthe nature, which, in its inmost currents, sin had turned into
corruption and a curse. "O wretchedman that I am!" etc. And then forthwith
upon this stream of misery there comes forth a gleamof light from the
heavenly presence;"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Here is
deliverance for me; I am a redeemedman; holiness may be mine, and, with it,
peace and joy. Here is the full meaning of these glorious words.
I. THEY LIE AT THE ROOT OF SUCH EXERTIONS AS WE MAKE FOR
THOSE WHOM SIN HAS BROUGHT DOWN VERY LOW.
1. They contain the principle which should lead us most truly to sympathise
with them. This greattruth of the redemption Of our nature in Christ Jesus is
the only link of brotherhood betweenman and man. To deny our brotherhood
with any of the most miserable of those whom Christ has redeemed, is to deny
our own capacityfor perfect holiness, and so our true redemption through
Christ.

2. Here, too, is the only warrant for any reasonable efforts fortheir
restoration. Without this, every man, who knows anything of the depth of evil
with which he has to deal, would give up the attempt in despair. Every
reasonable effortto restore any sinner, is a declarationthat we believe that we
are in a kingdom of grace, ofredeemed humanity. Unbelieving men cannot
receive the truth that a soul can be thus restored. They believe that you may
make a man respectable;but not that you can heal the inner currents of his
spiritual life, and so they cannot labour in prayers and ministrations with the
spiritual leper, until his flesh, of God's grace, comesagainas the flesh of a
little child. To endure this labour, we must believe that in Christ, the true
Man, and through the gift of His Spirit, there is deliverance from the body of
this death.
II. IT IS AT THE ROOT ALSO OF ALL REAL EFFORTS FOR
OURSELVES.
1. Every earnestman must, if he sets himself to resistthe evil which is in
himself, know something of the struggle which the apostle here describes;and
if he would endure the extremity of that conflict, he must have a firm belief
that there is a deliverance for him. Without this, the knowledge ofGod's
holiness is nothing else than the burning fire of despair. And so many do
despair. They think they have made their choice, and that they must abide by
it; and so they shut their eyes to their sins, they excuse them, they try to forget
them, they do everything but overcome them, until they see that in Christ
Jesus there is for them, if they will claim it, a sure power over these sins. And,
therefore, as the first consequence, letus ever hold it fast, even as our life.
2. Noris it needful to lowerthe tone of promise in order to prevent its being
turned into an excuse for sin. Here, as elsewhere,the simple words of God
contain their own best safeguardagainstbeing abused; for what canbe so
loud a witness againstallowedsin in any Christian man as this truth is? If
there be in the true Christian life in union with Christ for every one of us this
poweragainstsin, sin cannot reign in any who are living in Him. To be in
Christ is to be made to conquer in the struggle. So that this is the most
quickening and sanctifying truth. It tears up by the roots a multitude of secret
excuses. It tells us that if we are alive in Christ Jesus, we must be new
creatures. And herein it destroys the commonestform of self-deception— the
allowing some sin in ourselves, becausein other things we deny ourselves,
because we pray, because we give alms, etc. And this self-deceptionis put
down only by bringing out this truth, that in Christ Jesus there is for us, in
our struggle with "the body of this death," an entire conquest, if we will but

honestly and earnestlyclaim it for ourselves;so that if we do not conquer sin,
it must be because we are not believing.
3. This will make us diligent in all parts of the Christian life, because allwill
become a reality. Prayer, the reading of God's Word, etc., will be precious
after a new sort, because through them is kept alive our union with Christ, in
whom alone is for us a conquestover the evil which is in us. So that, to sum up
all in one blesseddeclaration, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will
make us free from the law of sin and death."
(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
The body of death
James Kirkwood.I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE BODYOF DEATH OF
WHICH THE BELIEVER COMPLAINS.
1. Indwelling sin is calledthe body of this death, as it is the effectand remains
of that spiritual death to which all men are subject in unregeneracy.
2. The remains of sin in the believer is calledthe body of this death, on
accountof the deadness and dulness of spirit in the service of God, which it so
often produces.
3. Remaining depravity is calledthe body of death, because it tends to
death.(1) It tends to the death of the body. As it was sin that brought us under
the influence of the sentence ofdissolution; as it is sin that has introduced into
the material frame of man those principles of decaywhich will bring it to the
grave;as it is sin which is the parent of those evil passions which, as natural
causes, waragainstthe health and life of the body, so it is the inbred sins of
the believerthat require his flesh to see the dust.(2) But this is not all.
Remaining depravity tends to spiritual and eternaldeath, and on this account,
also, is justly calledthe body of this death.
II. THE GRIEF AND PAIN WHICH REMAINING DEPRAVITY
OCCASIONS TO THE BELIEVER.
1. Remaining depravity is thus painful and grievous to the Christian, from his
acquaintance with its evil and malignant nature.
2. Remaining sin is thus painful to the Christian, from the constantstruggle
which it maintains with grace within the heart. Even in eminent saints the
contestis often singularly obstinate and painful; for where there is strong
grace there are also, sometimes, strong corruptions. Besides, where there is
eminent spirituality of mind, there is an aspirationafter a freedom from
imperfections which scarcelybelongs to the presentstate.

III. THE EARNEST LONGINGS AND CONFIDENT AND JOYFUL
ASSURANCE OF DELIVERANCE FROM INDWELLING SIN WHICH
THE CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINS.
1. Mark his earnestlongings — "Who shall deliver me?" The language
implies how wellthe Christian knows he cannot deliver himself from the body
of sin. This is the habitual desire of his soul — the habitual object of his
pursuit. For this end he prays, he praises, he reads, he hears, he
communicates. So earnest, in short, is his desire of deliverance, that he
welcomes withthis view two things most unwelcome to the feelings of nature
affliction and death.
2. Mark his confident and joyful assurance ofdeliverance. Weak in himself,
the Christian is yet strong in the Lord. All the victories he has hitherto
achievedhave been through the faith and by the might of the Redeemer. All
the victories he shall yet acquire shall be obtained in the same way.
3. Mark the gratitude of the Christian for this anticipated and glorious
deliverance. Sin is the cause ofall the other evils in which he has been
involved, and when sin is destroyed within and put forever away, nothing can
be wanting to perfecthis blessedness. Wellthen does it become him to cherish
the feeling and utter the language ofthankfulness.
(James Kirkwood.)
The spectre of the old nature
H. Macmillan, LL. D.1. Some years ago a number of peculiar photographs
were circulated by spiritualists. Two portraits appearedon the same card, one
clearand the other obscure. The fully developed portrait was the obvious
likeness ofthe living person; and the indistinct portrait was supposedto be the
likeness ofsome dead friend, produced by supernatural agency. The mystery,
however, was found to admit of an easyscientific explanation. It not
unfrequently happens that the portrait of a person is so deeply impressedon
the glass ofthe negative, that although the plate is thoroughly cleansedwith
strong acid, the picture cannot be removed, although it is made invisible.
When such a plate is used over again, the original image faintly reappears
along with the new portrait. So is it in the experience of the Christian. He has
been washedin the blood of Christ; and beholding the glory of Christ as in a
glass, he is changedinto the same image. And yet the ghostof his former
sinfulness persists in reappearing with the image of the new man. So deeply
are the traces of the former godless life impressed upon the soul, that even the
sanctificationof the Spirit, carried on through discipline, burning as corrosive
acid, cannotaltogetherremove them.

2. The photographer also has a process by which the obliterated picture may
at any time be revived. And so it was with the apostle. The sin that so easily
besethim returned with fresh power in circumstances favourable to it.
I. THE "BODYOF DEATH" IS NOT SOMETHING THAT HAS COME TO
US FROM WITHOUT, an infected garment that may be thrown aside
wheneverwe please. It is our own corrupt self, not our individual sins or evil
habits. And this body of death disintegrates the purity and unity of the soul
and destroys the love of God and man which is its true life. It acts like an evil
leaven, corrupting and decomposing everygoodfeeling and heavenly
principle, and gradually assimilating our being to itself. There is a peculiar
disease whichoften destroys the silkwormbefore it has woven its cocoon. It is
causedby a species ofwhite mould which grows rapidly within the body of the
worm at the expense of its nutritive fluids; all the interior organs being
gradually converted into a mass of flocculent vegetable matter. Thus the
silkworm, instead of going on in the natural order of development to produce
the beautiful winged moth, higher in the scale ofexistence, retrogradesto the
lowercondition of the inert senselessvegetable. And like this is the effectof
the body of death in the soul of man. The heart cleaves to the dust of the earth,
and man, made in the image of God, insteadof developing a higher and purer
nature, is reduced to the low, mean condition of the slave of Satan.
II. NONE BUT THOSE WHO HAVE ATTAINED TO SOME MEASURE OF
THE EXPERIENCE OF ST. PAUL CAN KNOW THE FULL
WRETCHEDNESS CAUSED BYTHIS BODYOF DEATH. The careless
have no idea of the agonyof a soul under a sense ofsin; of the tyranny which
it exercises andthe misery which it works. And even in the experience of
many Christians there is but little of this peculiar wretchedness.Convictionis
in too many instances superficial, and a mere impulse or emotion is regarded
as a sign of conversion;and hence many are deluded by a false hope, having
little knowledge ofthe law of God or sensibility to the depravity of their own
hearts. But such was not the experience of St. Paul. The body of corruption
that he bore about with him darkened and embittered all his Christian
experience. And so it is with every true Christian. It is not the spectre of the
future, or the dread of the punishment of sin, that he fears, for there is no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;but the spectre of the sinful
past and the pressure of the present evil nature. The sin which he fancied was
so superficial that a few years' running in the Christian course would shake it
off, he finds is in reality deep rooted in his very nature, requiring a life long
battle. The fearful foes which he bears in his own bosom — sins of
unrestrained appetite, sins that spring from past habits, frequently triumph

over him; and all this fills him almost with despair — not of God, but of
himself — and extorts from him the groan, "O wretchedman that I am!" etc.
III. THE EVIL TO BE CURED IS BEYOND HUMAN REMEDY. The
various influences that act upon us from without — instruction, example,
education, the discipline of life — cannot deliver us from this body of death.
IV. THE WORK IS CHRIST'S AND NOT MAN'S. We are to fight the battle
in His name and strength, and to leave the issue in His hands. He will deliver
us in His own way and time. Conclusion:We can reverse the illustration with
which I began. If behind our renewedself is the spectralform of our old self,
let us remember that behind all is the image of Godin which we were created.
The soul, howeverlost, darkened, and defaced, still retains some lineaments of
the Divine impression with which it was once stamped. The image haunts us
always;it is the ideal from which we have fallen and towards which we are to
be conformed. To rescue that image of God, the Son of God assumedour
nature, lived our life, and died our death; and His Spirit becomes incarnate in
our heart and life, and prolongs the work of Christ in us in His own
sanctifying work. And as our nature becomes more and more like Christ's, so
by degrees the old nature photographed by sin upon the soul will ceaseto
haunt us, and the image of Christ will become more and more vivid. And at
length only one image will remain. We shall see Him as He is, and we shall
become like Him.
(H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
The body becoming a secondpersonality
D. Thomas, D. D.The writer represents himself as having two personalities —
the inner man, and the outer man, i.e., the body. A word or two about the
human body.
I. IT IS IN THE UNREGENERATE MAN A PERSONALITY. "I am
carnal," that is, I am become flesh. This is an abnormal, a guilty, and a
perilous fact. The right place of the body is that of the organ, which the mind
should use for its own high purpose. But this, through the pampering of its
own senses,and through the creationof new desires and appetites, becomes
such a powerover man that Paul represents it as a personality, the thing
becomes anego.
II. AS A PERSONALITYIT BECOMESA TYRANT. It is representedin this
chapter as a personality that enslaves, slays, destroys the soul, the inner man.
It is a "body of death." It drags the soul to death When man becomes
conscious of this tyranny, as he does when the "commandment" flashes upon
the conscience,the soul becomes intensely miserable, and a fierce battle sets in

betweenthe two personalities in man. The man cries out, "What shall I do to
be saved?" "Who shall deliver me?"
III. AS A TYRANT IT CAN ONLY BE CRUSHED BY CHRIST. In the fierce
battle Christ came to the rescue, and struck the tyrant down. In this Epistle
the writer shows that man struggled to deliver himself —
1. Under the teachings ofnature, but failed (see chap. Romans 1). He became
more enslavedin materialism.
2. Under the influence of Judaism, but failed. By the deeds of the law no man
was justified or made right. Under Judaism men filled up the measure of their
iniquities. Who, or what, then, could deliver? No philosophers, poets, or
teachers. Only one. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ."
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The body of death
R. H. Story, D. D.1. St. Paul was not thinking with any fear of death. Indeed,
toil worn and heart weariedas he was, he often would have been glad, had it
been the Lord's will. There was something that to a mind like Paul's was
worse than death. It was the dominion of the carnal nature which strove to
overrule the spiritual. The body of sin was to him "the body of death." Who
should deliver him from it?
2. Now, is the feeling from which such a cry as Paul's proceeds a realand
noble feeling, or is it the mere outcry of ignorance and superstition? There are
not wanting those who would say the latter. "Why trouble ourselves," says
one of these apostles ofthe new religionof science,"aboutmatters of which,
howeverimportant they may be, we do know nothing, and can know nothing?
We live in a world full of misery and ignorance;and the plain duty of each
and all of us is to try and make the little corner he can influence somewhat
less miserable and ignorant. To do this effectually, it is necessaryto be
possessedof only two beliefs; that we can learn much of the order of nature;
and that our own will has a considerable influence on the course of events."
That is all that we need attend to. Any idea of God and a moral law belongs to
cloudland. But is there not an instinct within us which rebels againstthis cool
setting aside of everything that cannotbe seenor handled? And is that instinct
a low one? or is it the instinct of minds that come nearestto Divine?
3. Which is the higher type of man — which do you feel has gotthe firmer
grip of the realities of life — the man calmly bending over the facts of outward
nature, and striving to secure, as far as he can, conformity to them: or, the
man, like Paul, believing that there was a moral law of which he had fallen

short, a Divine order with which he was not in harmony — goodand evil, light
and darkness, Godand the devil, being to him tremendous realities — his soul
being the battlefield of a warbetweenthem, in the agonyand shock of which
conflict he is constrainedto cry out for a higher than human help? I should
say the man in the storm and stress of the spiritual battle; and I should say
that to deny the reality of the sense ofsuch a conflict was to deny facts which
are as obvious to the spiritual intelligence as the fact that two and two make
four is to the ordinary reason, and was to malign facts which are much higher
and nobler than any mere fact of science, as the life of man is higher and
nobler than the life of rocks orseas.
4. Minds wholly engrossedwith intellectual or selfish pursuits may be
unconscious ofthis conflict, and disbelieve its existence in other minds. So
may minds that have reachedthat stage which the apostle describes as "dead
in sin"; but to other minds, minds within which consciencestilllives, within
which exclusive devotion to one thought or interest has not obliterated every
other, this conflictis a stern reality. Who that has lived a life with any
spiritual element in it, and higher than the mere animal's or worldling's, has
not knownthat consciousness, andknown its terror and power of darkness
when it was roused into active life? it is of this consciousnessPaulspeaks.
Under the pressure of it he cries out, "Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?"
5. And what answerdoes he find to that cry? Does the order of nature, or the
powers of his own will help him here? Does not the very sight of the unbroken
calm and steadfastregularity of the law and order of external nature add new
bitterness to the conviction that he has forgotten a higher law and disturbed a
still more gracious order? Is not the very conviction of the weaknessofhis
own will one of the most terrible elements in his distress? Speak to a man
under this consciousnessofthe powerof sin about finding help to resist,
through studying the laws of that nature of which he is himself a part, and
through exercising that will, whose feeblenessappalls him, and you mock him,
as if you spoke to a man in a raging fever of the necessityof studying his own
temperament and constitution, and of the duty of keeping himself cool. What
is wanted in either case is help from some source ofenergy outside himself,
who should restore the wastedstrengthfrom his own fountains of life — who
should sayto the internal conflict, "Peace, be still." And that is what Paul
found in Christ. He found it nowhere else. It is not to be found in knowledge,
in science, in philosophy, in nature, in culture, in self.
6. Now, how did Paul find this in Christ? How may all find it? He was
speaking about something infinitely more terrible than the punishment of sin,

viz., the dominion of sin. What he wanted was an actualdeliverance from an
actualfoe — not a promise of exemption from some future evil. And it was
this that Paul realisedin Christ. To him to live was Christ. The presence and
the powerof Christ possessedhim. It was in this he found the strength which
gave him the victory over the body of death. He found that strength in the
consciousnessthathe was not a lonely soldier, fighting againstan
overpowering enemy, and in the dark, but that One was with him who had
come from heaven itself to reveal to him that God was on his side, that he was
fighting God's battle, that the struggle was neededfor his perfecting as the
child of God. It was in the strength of this that he was able to give thanks for
his deliverance from the "body of death."
7. The consciousnessofthis struggle, the engagementin it in the strength of
Christ, the victory of the higher over the lower, are in all the necessary
conditions of spiritual health and continued life. To deny the reality of that
conflict, and of the Divine life for which it prepares us, does not prove that
these are not real and true. I take a man who does not know the "Old
Hundredth" from "God Save the Queen," and play him a piece of the
sweetestmusic, and he says there is no harmony in it. I show a man who is
colourblind two beautifully contrastedtints, and he sees but one dull hue: but
still the music and the beauty of the colours exist, though not for him, not for
the incapable ear and the undiscerning eye. So with the spiritual life. It is for
the spiritual.
(R. H. Story, D. D.)
The body of death
E. Woods.InVirgil there is an accountof an ancient king, who was so
unnaturally cruel in his punishments, that he used to chain a dead man to a
living one. It was impossible for the poor wretch to separate himself from his
disgusting burden. The carcase was bound fast to his body, its hands to his
hands, its face to his face, its lips to his lips; it lay down and rose up whenever
he did; it moved about with him whithersoeverhe went, till the welcome
moment when death came to his relief. And many suppose that it was in
reference to this that Paul cried out: "O wretchedman that I am!" etc.
Whether this be so or not, sin is a body of death, which we all carry about
with us. And while I do not wish to shock your taste, yet I do wish to give you
some impression of the unclean, impure, offensive nature of sin. And think —
if our souls are polluted with such a stain — oh! think what we must be in the
eyes of that God in whose sight the very heavens are not clean, and who
charges His angels with folly.

(E. Woods.)
The body of deathDoddridge thus paraphrases the latter half of this verse:
"Who shall rescue me, miserable captive as I am, from the body of this death,
from this continued burden which I carry about with me, and which is
cumbersome and odious as a dead carcasetied to a living body, to be dragged
along with it wherever it goes?" He adds in a note: "It is well knownthat
some ancient writers mention this as a cruelty practised by some tyrants upon
miserable captives who felt into their hands; and a more forcible and
expressive image of the sadcase representedcannotsurely enter into the mind
of man." "Of this atrocious practice one of the most remarkable instances is
that mentioned by Virgil when describing the tyrannous conduct of
Mezentius: —
The living and the dead at his command
Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand;
Till, chokedwith stench, in loathed embraces tied,
The lingering wretches pined awayand died. — (Dryden.)Doddridge is not by
any means singular in his opinion that the apostle derives an allusion from
this horrid punishment; although perhaps the text is sufficiently intelligible
without the illustration it thus receives. Philo, in an analogous passage, more
obviously alludes to it, describing the body as a burden to the soul, carried
about like a dead carcase, whichmay not till death be laid aside." (Kitto.)
During the reign of Richard I, the following curious law was enactedfor the
government of those going by sea to the Holy Land — "He who kills a man on
shipboard shall be bound to the dead body and thrown into the sea;if a man
be killed on shore the slayershall be bound to the dead body and buried with
it."
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ the Deliverer
H. Ward Beecher.I. MAN'S NEED.
1. While man is, in specialorgans, inferior to one and anotherof the animals,
he is collectivelyby far the superior of everyone. And yet, large as he is, man
is not happy in any proportion to his nature, and to the hints and fore gleams
which that nature gives. He has, in being clothed with flesh, all the points of
contactwith the physical world that the ox or the falcon has. He is born; he
grows up with all the instincts and passions ofanimal life, and without them
he could not maintain his foothold upon the earth. But man is also a creature
of affections, which, in variety, compass and force, leave the lower creationin

a vivid contrast. He is endowed with reason, moralsentiment and spiritual
life; but he has learned but very imperfectly how to carry himself so that
every part of his nature shall have fair play. The animal propensities are
predominant. Here, then, begins the conflictbetweenman's physical life and
his moral life — the strife of gentleness,purity, joy, peace, and faith, against
selfishness, pride, and appetites of various kinds.
2. To all souls that have been raisedto their true life the struggle has been
always severe. To have the powerover our whole organisationwithout a
despotism of our animal and selfishnature is the problem of practicallife.
How can I maintain the fulness of every part, and yet have harmony and
relative subordination, so that the appetites shall serve the body, and the
affections not be draggeddown by the appetites;so that the moral sentiments
and the reasonshall shine clearand beautiful?
II. WHAT REMEDIESHAVE PROPOSED!
1. To give way to that which is strongest, has been one specialmethod of
settling the conflict. Kill the higher feelings and then let the lowerones romp
and riot like animals in a field — this gives a brilliant opening to life; but it
gives a dismal close to it. Forwhat is more hideous than a sullen old man
burnt out with evil? When I see men suppressing all qualms, and going into
the full enjoyment of sensuous life, I think of a party entering the Mammoth
Cave with candles enough to bring them back, but setting them all on fire at
once. The world is a cave. They that burn out all their powers and passions in
the beginning of life at last wander in greatdarkness, and lie down to mourn
and die.
2. Another remedy has been in superstition. Men have sought to coverthis
conflict, rather than to heal it.
3. Others have compromised by morality. But this, which is an average of
man's conduct with the customs and laws of the time in which he lives, comes
nowhere near touching that radical conflict which there is betweenthe flesh
and the spirit.
4. Then comes philosophy, and deals with it in two ways. It propounds to men
maxims and wise rules. It expounds the benefit of good, and the evils of bad
conduct. And then it proposes certainrules of doing what we cannothelp, and
of suffering what we cannot throw off. And it is all very well. So is rosewater
where a man is wounded unto death. It is not less fragrantbecause it is not
remedial; but if regardedas a remedy, how poor it is!
5. Then comes scientific empiricism, and prescribes the observance ofnatural
laws;but how many men in life know these laws? How many men are so

placed that if they did know them, they would be able to use them? You might
as well take a babe of days, and place a medicine chestbefore it, and say,
"Rise, and selectthe right medicine, and you shall live."
III. What, then, is the final remedy? WHAT DOES CHRISTIANITY OFFER
IN THIS CASE?
1. It undertakes to so bring God within the reachof every being in the world,
that He shall exert a controlling power on the spiritual realms of man's
nature, and, by giving powerto it, overbalance and overbearthe despotismof
the radicalpassions and appetites. There is a story of a missionary who was
sent out to preachthe gospelto the slaves;but he found that they went forth
so early, and came back so late, and were so spent, that they could not hear.
There was nobody to preach to them unless he should accompanythem in
their labour. So he went and sold himself to their master, who put him in the
gang with them. For the privilege of going out with these slaves, and making
them feel that he loved them, and would benefit them, he workedwith them,
and suffered with them; and while they worked, he taught; and as they came
back he taught; and he won their ear; and the grace of God sprang up in
many of these darkenedhearts. That is the story over againof God manifest
in the flesh.
2. Many things can be done under personalinfluence that you cannot in any
other way. My father said to me, when I was a little boy, "Henry, take these
letters to the post office." I was a brave boy; yet I had imagination. I saw
behind every thicket some shadowyform; and I heard trees say strange and
weird things; and in the dark concave above I could hear flitting spirits. As I
stepped out of the door, Charles Smith, a greatthick-lipped black man, who
was always doing kind things, said, "I will go with you." Oh! sweetermusic
never came out of any instrument than that. The heaven was just as full, and
the earth was just as full as before; but now I had somebody to go with me. It
was not that I thought he was going to fight for me. But I had somebodyto
succourme. Let anything be done by direction and how different it is from its
being done by personalinspiration. "Ah! are the Zebedees, then, so poor?
John, take a quarter of beef and carry it down, with my compliments. No,
stop; fill up that chest, put in those cordials, lay them on the cart, and bring it
round, and I will drive down myself." DownI go;and on entering the house I
hold out both hands, and say, "Why, my old friend, I am glad I found you out.
I understand the world has gone hard with you. I came down to saythat you
have one friend, at any rate. Now do not be discouraged;keepup a good
heart." And when I am gone, the man wipes his eyes, and says, "Godknows
that that man's shaking my hands gave me more joy than all that he brought.

It was himself that I wanted." The old prophet, when he went into the house
where the widow's son lay dead, put his hands on the child's hands, and
stretchedhimself across the child's body, and the spirit of life came back. Oh,
if, when men are in trouble, there were some man to measure his whole
stature againstthem, and give them the warmth of his sympathy, how many
would be saved!That is the philosophy of salvationthrough Christ — a great
soul come down to take care of little souls; a greatheart beating its warm
blood into our little pinched hearts, that do not know how to get blood enough
for themselves. It is this that gives my upper nature strength, and hope, and
elasticity, and victory.Conclusion:We learn —
1. What is a man's depravity. When you saythat an army is destroyed, you do
not mean that everybody is killed; but that, as an army, its complex
organisationis broken up. To spoil a watchyou do not need to grind it to
powder. Take outthe mainspring. "Well, the pointers are not useless."
Perhaps not for another watch. "There are a great many wheels inside that
are not injured." Yes, but what are wheels worth in a watchthat has no
mainspring? What spoils a compass? Anything which unfits it for doing what
it was intended to do. Now, here is this complex organisationofman. The
royalties of the soul are all mixed up. Where conscienceoughtto be is pride.
Where love ought to be is selfishness. Its sympathy and harmony are gone. It
is not necessarythat a man should be all bad to be ruined. Man has lostthat
harmony which belongs to a perfectorganisation. And so he lives to struggle.
And the struggle through which he is passing is the cause ofhuman woe.
2. Why it is that the divinity of Christ becomes so important in the
development of a truly Christian life. As a living man, having had the
experiences of my own soul, and having been conversantwith the experiences
of others, what I want is power. And that is what they lack who deny the
Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. God can cleanse the heart. Man cannot.
And that God whom we canunderstand is the God that walkedin Jerusalem,
that suffered upon Calvary, and that lives again, having lifted Himself up into
eternal spheres of power, that He might bring many sons and daughters home
to Zion.
(H. Ward Beecher.)
The believer's gratitude to God through Christ
J. Stafford.I. SOULS GROANING UNDER THE BODY OF SIN AND
DEATH CAN FIND NO RELIEF BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. None
but an almighty Saviour is suited to the case ofa poor sinner. This doctrine
reproves the Church of Rome, and others, for directing men, not to Christ,

but to themselves;to their vows, alms, penances, andpilgrimages; or, to their
greaterwatchfulness and strictness in life. But as Luther observes, "How
many have tried this way for many years, and yet could get no peace." Now,
what is there in Christ that can relieve a soul?
1. The blood of Christ, which was shedas an atoning sacrifice forsin.
2. A perfectand everlasting righteousness. This our apostle, doubtless, had in
view: for he immediately adds (Romans 8:1). "Christ is made unto us of God,
wisdom and righteousness."
3. The Spirit of Christ which is given to all true believers, as an abiding
principle, teaching them to fight and war with sin.
II. THAT SOULS THUS EXERCISED, FINDINGRELIEF ONLY IN
CHRIST, WILL ACTUALLY RECEIVE AND EMBRACE HIM. None will
receive Christ, but they only who are taught to see their need of Him.
III. THEY, WHO SEE THIS RELIEF IN CHRIST, WHO RECEIVE AND
EMBRACE IT, MUST AND WILL GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR IT. The
angels, those disinterestedspirits, bringing the joyful news to our apostate
world, sung, "Gloryto God in the highest, for peace on earth, and goodwill
towards men." And surely, if we who are redeemedto God by His blood,
should hold our peace on so joyful an occasion, "the stones would immediately
cry out."
IV. ALL THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED CHRIST, AND HAVE GIVEN
THANKS TO GOD FOR HIM, WILL LOOK UPON HIM AS THEIR LORD
AND THEIR GOD.
(J. Stafford.)
Nothing can equal the gospel
T. De Witt Talmage.Thereis nothing proposedby men that can do anything
like this gospel. The religion of Ralph Waldo Emersonis the philosophy of
icicles;the religion of Theodore Parkerwas a sirocco ofthe desertcovering up
the soulwith dry sand; the religion of Renan is the romance of believing
nothing; the religion of Thomas Carlyle is only a condensedLondon fog; the
religion of the Huxleys and the Spencers is merely a pedestalon which human
philosophy sits shivering in the night of the soul, looking up to the stars,
offering no help to the nations that crouchand groanat the base. Tell me
where there is one man who has rejectedthat gospelfor another, who is
thoroughly satisfied, and helped, and contented in his scepticism, and I will
take the ear tomorrow and ride five hundred miles to see him.
(T. De Witt Talmage.)

Victory through Christ
T. Oliver., J. Lyth, D. D.I can wellremember a portion of a sermon which I
heard when I was only five years of age. I recollectthe castof the preacher's
features, the colour of his hair, and the tone of his voice. He had been an
officer in the army, and was in attendance on the Duke of Wellington during
the greatbattle of Waterloo. Thatportion of the sermon which I can so well
remember was a graphic description of the conflict which some pious souls
have experiencedwith the powers of darkness before their final victory over
the fearof death. He illustrated it by drawing in simple words a vivid
description of the battle at Waterloo. He told us of the cooland stern nature of
the "Iron Duke," who seldom manifested any emotion. But the moments came
when the Duke was lifted out of his stern rut. Fora short time the English
troops wavered, and showedsigns of weakness, whenthe Duke anxiously
exclaimed, "I would to God that Blucher or the night had come!" After a
while a column of the French was driven before the English guards, and
another column was routed by a bayonet charge of an English brigade.
Wellington then calculatedhow long it would take to complete the triumph.
Taking from his pockethis gold watch, he exclaimed, "Twentyminutes more,
and then victory!" When the twenty minutes had passedthe French were
completely vanquished. Then the Duke, againtaking out his watch, held it by
the short chain, and swung it around his head again and again. while he
shouted, "Victory! Victory!" the watchflew out of his hand, but he regarded
gold as only dust compared with the final triumph. This graphic description
made a powerful impression on my childish mind. Young as I was, I at once
saw the aptness of the illustration. I often dreamt about it, and told other lads
the story. When I was a weeping penitent, praying for pardon, and struggling
with unbelief, the scene of Waterloo came before me; but the moment the light
of the Saviour's smile fell upon my heart, I instinctively sprang to my feet and
shouted, "Victory! Victory!" Many times, since I have been exclusively
engagedin conducting specialservices, my memory has brought before me the
preacherand the part of the sermon which I heard when I was only five years
of age, and this has had its influence on me in my addresses to both old and
young.
(T. Oliver.)
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law
of sin. —
I. OF WHOM DOES THE APOSTLE SPEAK? Of those —
1. Who are enlightened.

2. But still under the law.
II. WHAT DOES HE AFFIRM RESPECTING THEM?
1. That they naturally approve the law.
2. Yet serve sire
III. WHAT IS THE NECESSARYCONCLUSION?
1. That there is no deliverance by the law, or by personaleffort.
2. But by Christ only.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Believers serve the law of God
J. Stafford.I. THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER IS CHIEFLY TAKEN UP IN
SERVING THE LAW OF GOD. Forthis end the law is written upon his
heart, and, therefore, he serves Godwith his spirit, or with his renewedmind.
His whole man, all that can be calledhimself, is employed in a life of
evangelicaland universal obedience.
II. THE BELIEVER MAY MEET WITH MANY INTERRUPTIONSWHILE
HE IS AIMING TO SERVE THE LAW OF GOD. "With my flesh the law of
sin."
1. Had our apostle contentedhimself with the former part of this declaration,
it would doubtless have been matter of greatdiscouragementto the children
of God. But when we find that the apostle himself confessethhis weakness and
imperfection, whose heart would not take courage, andgo forth more boldly
to the conflict than ever?
2. After all the encouragementaffordedto the mind of a believer, yet this is a
very humbling subject. We may learn hence, how deeply sin is inwrought in
our nature.
III. ALTHOUGH THE BELIEVER MEETS WITH MANY
INTERRUPTIONS,YET HE HOLDS ON SERVING THE LAW OF GOD,
EVEN WHEN HE IS DELIVERED FROM ALL CONDEMNATION.I
ground this observationon the close connectionin which these words stand
with the first verse of the next chapter. They are delivered from
condemnation, and yet they serve the law of God, because they are delivered.
(J. Stafford.).
COMMENTARIES

EXPOSITORY(ENGLISHBIBLE)
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(25)It has been released. It is
Jesus our Lord to whom the thanks and praise are due. Though without His
intervention there can only be a divided service. The mere human self serves
with the mind the law of God, with the flesh the law of sin.
I myself.—Apart from and in oppositionto the help which I derive from
Christ.
The abrupt and pregnant style by which, instead of answering the question,
“Where is deliverance to come from?” the Apostle simply returns thanks for
the deliverance that has actually been vouchsafedto him, is thoroughly in
harmony with the impassionedpersonalcharacterof the whole passage. These
are not abstractquestions to be decided in abstractterms, but they are
matters of intimate personalexperience.
The deliverance wrought by Christ is apparently here that of sanctification
rather than of justification. It is from the domination of the body, from the
impulses of sense, that the Christian is freed, and that is done when he is
crucified to them with Christ.
BensonCommentaryHYPERLINK "/romans/7-25.htm"Romans 7:25. I thank
God, &c. — As if he had said, I bemoan myself as above, when I think only of
the Mosaic law, the discoveries it makes, the motives it suggests, andthe
circumstances in which it leaves the offender: but in the midst of this gloom of
distress and anguish, a sight of the gospelrevives my heart, and I cry out, as in
a kind of rapture, as soonas I turn my eyes, and behold the display of mercy
and grace made in it, I thank Godthrough Jesus Christ our Lord — The
Clermont and some other copies, with the Vulgate, read here, χαρις του θεου,
the grace ofGod, namely, will deliver me. But the common reading, being
supported by almost all the ancientmanuscripts, and the Syriac version, is to
be preferred; especiallyas it contains an ellipsis, which, if supplied, according
to the apostle’s manner, from the foregoing sentence, willgive even a better
sense than the Clermont reading, thus: Who will deliver me? I thank God,
who will deliver me, through Jesus Christ. See on Romans 8:2. Thus the
apostle beautifully interweaves his complaints with thanksgiving;the hymn of
praise answering to the voice of sorrow, Wretchedman that I am! So then —
He here sums up the whole, and concludes what he had begun, Romans 7:7. I
myself — Or rather, that I, (the man whom I am personating,)serve the law
of God — The moral law; with my mind — With my reasonand conscience,

which declare for God; but with my flesh the law of sin — But my corrupt
passions and appetites still rebel, and, prevailing, employ the outward man in
gratifying them, in oppositionto the remonstrances ofmy higher powers.
On the whole of this passage we may observe, in the words of Mr. Fletcher,
“To take a scripture out of the context, is often like taking the stone which
binds an arch out of its place:you know not what to make of it. Nay, you may
put it to a use quite contrary to that for which it was intended. This those do
who so take Romans 7. out of its connectionwith Romans 6:8., as to make it
mean the very reverse of what the apostle designed. In Romans 5:6., and in
the beginning of the seventh chapter, he describes the glorious liberty of the
children of God under the Christian dispensation. And as a skilful painter
puts shades in his pictures, to heighten the effectof the lights; so the judicious
apostle introduces, in the latter part of chap. 7., a lively descriptionof the
domineering power of sin, and of the intolerable burden of guilt; a burden this
which he had so severelyfelt, when the convincing Spirit chargedsin home
upon his conscience,afterhe had broken his good resolutions;but especially
during the three days of his blindness and fasting at Damascus. Thenhe
groaned, O wretchedman that I am, &c., hanging night and day between
despair and hope, betweenunbelief and faith, betweenbondage and freedom,
till God brought him into Christian liberty by the ministry of Ananias; — of
this liberty the apostle gives us a further and fuller accountin chapter eight.
Therefore the description of the man who [unacquainted with the gospel]
groans under the galling yoke of sin, is brought in merely by contrast, to set
off the amazing difference there is betweenthe bondage of sin, and the liberty
of gospelholiness:just as the generals who enteredRome in triumph, used to
make a show of the prince whom they had conquered. On such occasions, the
conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot crownedwith laurel; while the captive
king followedhim on foot, loadedwith chains, and making, next to the
conqueror, the most striking part of the show. Now, if, in a Roman triumph,
some of the spectators hadtaken the chained king on foot, for the victorious
generalin the chariot, because the one immediately followedthe other, they
would have been guilty of a mistake not unlike that of those who take the
carnalJew, sold under sin, and groaning as he goes along, forthe Christian
believer, who walks in the Spirit, exults in the liberty of God’s children, and
always triumphs in Christ. See Fletcher’s Works, vol. 4., Amer. edit, pp. 336,
337.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary7:23-25 This passagedoes not
representthe apostle as one that walkedafter 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 ofthe abuse of such as are blinded by their
own lusts, to find fault with the scripture, or any just and wellwarranted
interpretation of it. And no man who is not engagedin 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, constrainedto 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, which promised him, in the end, deliverance from this
enemy. So then, says he, I myself, with my mind, my prevailing judgement,
affections, and purposes, as a regenerate man, by Divine grace, serve and obey
the law of God; but with the flesh, the carnal nature, the remains of depravity,
I serve the law of sin, which wars againstthe law of my mind. Not serving it so
as to live in it, or to allow it, but as unable to free himself from it, even in his
very best state, and needing to look for help and deliverance out of himself. It
is evident that he thanks God for Christ, as our deliverer, as our atonement
and righteousness in himself, and not because of any holiness wrought in us.
He knew of no such salvation, and disownedany such title to it. He was willing
to act in all points agreeable to the law, in his mind and conscience, but was
hindered by indwelling sin, and never attained the perfection the law requires.
What can be deliverance for a man always sinful, but the free grace of God, as
offered in Christ Jesus? The powerof Divine grace, and of the Holy Spirit,
could root out sin from our hearts even in this life, if Divine wisdom had not
otherwise thought fit. But it is suffered, that Christians might constantlyfeel,
and understand thoroughly, the wretchedstate from which Divine grace saves
them; might be kept from trusting in themselves;and might ever hold all their
consolationand hope, from the rich and free grace of God in Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the BibleI thank God - That is, I thank God for effecting a
deliverance to which I am myself incompetent. There is a way of rescue, and I
trace it altogetherto his mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. What conscience
could not do, what the Law could not do, what unaided human strength could
not do, has been accomplishedby the plan of the gospel;and complete
deliverance can be expectedthere, and there alone. This is the point to which
all his reasoning had tended; and having thus shown that the Law was
insufficient to effectthis deliverance. he is now prepared to utter the language
of Christian thankfulness that it can be effectedby the gospel. The superiority

of the gospelto the Law in overcoming all the evils under which man labors, is
thus triumphantly established; compare 1 Corinthians 15:57.
So then - As the result of the whole inquiry we have come to this conclusion.
With the mind - With the understanding, the conscience,the purposes, or
intentions of the soul. This is a characteristic ofthe renewednature. Of no
impenitent sinner could it be ever affirmed that with his mind he servedthe
Law of God.
I myself - It is still the same person, though acting in this apparently
contradictory manner.
Serve the law of God - Do honor to it as a just and holy law Romans 7:12,
Romans 7:16, and am inclined to obey it, Romans 7:22, Romans 7:24.
But with the flesh - The corrupt propensities and lusts, Romans 7:18,
The law of sin - That is, in the members. The flesh throughout, in all its native
propensities and passions, leads to sin; it has no tendency to holiness; and its
corruptions can be overcome only by the grace of God. We have thus,
(1) A view of the sad and painful conflictbetweensin and God. They are
opposedin all things.
(2) we see the raging, withering effectof sin on the soul. In all circumstances it
tends to death and woe.
(3) we see the feebleness ofthe Law and of conscienceto overcome this. The
tendency of both is to produce conflict and woe. And,
(4) We see that the gospelonly can overcome sin. To us it should be a subject
of everincreasing thankfulness, that what could not be accomplishedby the
Law, canbe thus effectedby the gospel;and that God has devised a plan that
thus effects complete deliverance, and which gives to the captive in sin an
everlasting triumph.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary25. I thank God—the Source.
through Jesus Christ—the Channel of deliverance.
So then—to sum up the whole matter.
with the mind—the mind indeed.
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin—"Suchthen is
the unchanging characterofthese two principles within me. God's holy law is
dear to my renewedmind, and has the willing service of my new man;
although that corrupt nature which still remains in me listens to the dictates
of sin."

Note, (1) This whole chapter was of essentialservice to the Reformers in their
contendings with the Church of Rome. When the divines of that corrupt
church, in a Pelagian spirit, denied that the sinful principle in our fallen
nature, which they called"Concupiscence," andwhich is commonly called
"OriginalSin," had the nature of sin at all, they were triumphantly answered
from this chapter, where—both in the first section of it, which speaks ofit in
the unregenerate, andin the second, which treats of its presence and actings in
believers—itis explicitly, emphatically, and repeatedly called"sin." As such,
they held it to be damnable. (See the Confessions bothof the Lutheran and
Reformed churches). In the following century, the orthodox in Holland had
the same controversyto wage with "the Remonstrants" (the followers of
Arminius), and they wagedit on the field of this chapter. (2) Here we see that
Inability is consistentwith Accountability. (See Ro 7:18; Ga 5:17). "As the
Scriptures constantlyrecognize the truth of these two things, so are they
constantly united in Christian experience. Everyone feels that he cannotdo
the things that he would, yet is sensible that he is guilty for not doing them.
Let any man test his power by the requisition to love God perfectly at all
times. Alas! how entire our inability! Yet how deep our self-loathing and self-
condemnation!" [Hodge]. (3) If the first sight of the Cross by the eye of faith
kindles feelings never to be forgotten, and in one sense never to be repeated—
like the first view of an enchanting landscape—the experimentaldiscovery, in
the latter stagesofthe Christian life, of its power to beat down and mortify
inveterate corruption, to cleanse and heal from long-continued backslidings
and frightful inconsistencies, andso to triumph over all that threatens to
destroy those for whom Christ died, as to bring them safe over the
tempestuous seas ofthis life into the haven of eternalrest—is attended with
yet more heart—affecting wonderdraws forth deeper thankfulness, and issues
in more exalted adoration of Him whose work Salvationis from first to last
(Ro 7:24, 25). (4) It is sad when such topics as these are handled as mere
questions of biblical interpretation or systematic theology. Our greatapostle
could not treat of them apart from personalexperience, ofwhich the facts of
his ownlife and the feelings of his own soul furnished him with illustrations as
lively as they were apposite. When one is unable to go far into the
investigationof indwelling sin, without breaking out into an, "O wretched
man that I am!" and cannotenter on the way of relief without exclaiming "I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," he will find his meditations rich
in fruit to his own soul, and may expect, through Him who presides in all such
matters, to kindle in his readers or hearers the like blessedemotions (Ro 7:24,
25). So be it even now, O Lord!

Matthew Poole's CommentaryI thank God; who hath already delivered me
from the slaveryand dominion of sin; so that though it wars againstme, I still
resistit, and, by the strength of Christ, do frequently overcome it, 1
Corinthians 15:57.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law
of sin: this is the conclusionthe apostle makethof this experimental discourse.
q.d. So far as I am renewed, I yield obedience to the law of God; and so far as
I am unregenerate, I obey the dictates and suggestions ofthe law of sin.
Objection. No man canserve two contrary masters.
Answer. The apostle did not serve these two in the same part, or the same
renewedfaculty; nor did he do it at the same time, ordinarily; and for the
most part he served the law of God, though sometimes, through the powerof
temptation and indwelling corruption, he was enforced, againsthis will, to
serve the law of sin.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleI thank God, through Jesus Christour
Lord,.... There is a different reading of this passage;some copies read, and so
the Vulgate Latin version, thus, "the grace ofGod, through Jesus Christour
Lord"; which may be consideredas an answerto the apostle's earnestrequest
for deliverance, "who shalldeliver me?" the grace ofGod shall deliver me.
The grace ofGod the Father, which is communicatedthrough Christ the
Mediatorby the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ, the
principle of grace formed in the soul by the Spirit of God, which reigns in the
believer as a governing principle, through righteousness unto eternal life, will
in the issue deliver from indwelling sin, and all the effects of it: but the more
generalreading is, "thanks be to God", or "I thank God"; the objectof
thanksgiving is God, as the Father of Christ, and the God of all grace:the
medium of it is Christ as Mediator, through whom only we have accessto
God; without him we can neither pray to him, nor praise him aright; our
sacrifices ofpraise are only acceptable to God, through Christ; and as all our
mercies come to us through him, it is but right and fitting that our
thanksgivings should pass the same way: the thing for which thanks is given is
not expressed, but is implied, and is deliverance;either past, as from the
powerof Satan, the dominion of sin, the curse of the law, the evil of the world,
and from the hands of all spiritual enemies, so as to endanger everlasting
happiness; or rather, future deliverance, from the very being of sin: which
shows, that at present, and whilst in this life, saints are not free from it; that it

is God only that must, and will deliver from it; and that through Christ his
Son, through whom we have victory over every enemy, sin, Satan, law, and
death; and this shows the apostle's sure and certain faith and hope of this
matter, who concludes his discourse on this head thus:
so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law
of sin; observe, he says, "I myself", and not another; whence it is clear, he
does not representanother man in this discourse ofhis; for this is a phrase
used by him, when he cannot possibly be understood of any other but himself;
see Romans 9:3; he divides himself as it were into two parts, the mind, by
which he means his inward man, his renewedself; and "the flesh", by which
he designs his carnalI, that was soldunder sin: and hereby he accounts for his
serving, at different times, two different laws;"the law of God", written on
his mind, and in the service of which he delighted as a regenerate man; "and
the law of sin", to which he was sometimes carriedcaptive: and it should be
takennotice of, that he does not say "I have served", as referring to his past
state of unregeneracy, but "I serve", as respecting his present state as a
believer in Christ, made up of flesh and spirit; which as they are two different
principles, regard two different laws:add to all this, that this last accountthe
apostle gives of himself, and which agreeswith all he had saidbefore, and
confirms the whole, was delivered by him, after he had with so much faith and
fervency given thanks to God in a view of his future complete deliverance
from sin; which is a clinching argument and proof that he speaks ofhimself,
in this whole discourse concerning indwelling sin, as a regenerate person.
Geneva Study BibleI {e} thank God through Jesus Christour Lord. So then
with the mind I {f} myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of
sin.
(e) He recovers himself, and shows us that he rests only in Christ.
(f) This is the true perfectionof those that are born again, to confess that they
are imperfect.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/romans/7-25.htm"Romans 7:25.
Not Paul himself for himself alone, but, as is shown by the following ἄρα οὖν
κ.τ.λ., the same collective “I” that the apostle has personatedpreviously,
speaks here also—expressing, afterthat anguish-cry of longing, its feeling of
deep thankfulness toward God that the longed-for deliverance has actually
come to it through Christ. There is not change of person, but change of scene.
Man, still unredeemed, has just been bewailing his wretchedness outof
Christ; now the same man is in Christ, and gives thanks for the bliss that has

come to him in the train of his cry for help.
εὐχαριστῶ τ. Θεῷ] Forwhat? is not expressed, quite after the manner of lively
emotion; but the question itself, Romans 7:24, and the διὰ Ἰ. Χ., prevent any
mistake regarding it.
διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ] αἰτίου ὄντος τῆς εὐχαριστίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ·αὐτὸς γὰρ,
φησὶ, κατώρθωσενἃ ὁ νόμος οὐκ ἠδυνήθη· αὐτός με ἐῤῥύσατο ἐκ τῆς
ἀσθενείας τοῦ σώματος, ἐνδυναμώσας αὐτὸ,ὥστε μηκέτι τυραννεῖσθαι ὑπὸ
τῆς ἁμαρτίας, Theophylact. Thus, to the apostle Christ is the mediator of his
thanks,—ofthe fact itself, however, that he gives thanks to God, not the
mediator through whom he brings his thanks to God (Hofmann). Comp. on
Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 15:57;Colossians 3:17;similar is ἐν ὀνόματι,
Ephesians 5:20.
ἄρα οὖν] infers a concluding summary of the chief contents of Romans 7:14-
24, from the immediately preceding εὐχαριστῶ.… ἡμῶν. Seeing, namely, that
there lies in the foregoing expressionofthanks the thought: “it is Jesus Christ,
through whom God has savedme from the body of this death,” it follows
thence, and that indeed on a retrospective glance atthe whole exposition,
Romans 7:14 ff., that the man himself, out of Christ—his own personality,
alone and confined to itself—achieves nothing further than that he serves,
indeed, with his νοῦς the law of God, but with his σάρξ is in the service of the
law of sin. It has often been assumedthat this recapitulationdoes not connect
itself with the previous thanksgiving, but that the latter is rather to be
regardedas a parentheticalinterruption (see especiallyRückertand
Fritzsche); indeed, it has even been conjecturedthat ἄρα οὖν.… ἁμαρτίας
originally stood immediately after Romans 7:23 (Venema, Wassenbergh, Keil,
Lachmann, Praef. p. X, and van Hengel). But the right sense of αὐτὸς ἐγώ is
thus misconceived. It has here no other meaning than I myself, in the sense,
namely, I for my own person, without that higher saving intervention, which I
owe to Christ. The contrastwith others, which ΑὐΤΌς with the personal
pronoun indicates (comp. Romans 9:3, Romans 15:14;Herm. ad Vig. p. 735;
Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 317), results always from the context, and is here evident
from the emphatic διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, and, indeed, so that the accentfalls on
ΑὐΤΌς. Overlooking this antithetic relation of the “I myself,” Pareus,
Homberg, Estius, and Wolf conceivedthat Paul wished to obviate the
misconceptionas if he were not speaking in the entire section, and from
Romans 7:14 onwards in particular, as a regenerate man; Köllner thinks that
his objectnow is to establishstill more strongly, by his own feeling, the truth

of what he has previously advancedin the name of humanity. Others explain:
“just I,” who have been previously the subject of discourse (Grotius, Reiche,
Tholuck, Krehl, Philippi, Maier, and van Hengel; comp. Fritzsche:“ipse ego,
qui meam vicem deploravi,” and Ewald); which is indeed linguistically
unobjectionable (Bernhardy, p. 290), but would furnish no adequate ground
for the specialemphasis which it would have. Others, again, taking αὐτός as
equivalent to ὁ αὐτός (see Schaefer, Melet. p. 65;Herm. ad Soph. Antig. 920,
Opusc. I. p. 332 f.; Dissenad Pind. p. 412):ego idem: “cui convenit sequens
distributio, qua videri possetunus homo in duos veluti secari,” Beza.So also
Erasmus, Castalio, andmany others;Klee and Rückert. But in this view also
the connectionof ἄρα οὖν κ.τ.λ. with the foregoing thanksgiving is arbitrarily
abandoned; and the above use of αὐτός, as synonymous with ὁ αὐτός, is
proper to Ionic poetry, and is not sanctionedby the N. T. OIshausen, indeed,
takes αὐτ. ἐγώ as I, the one and the same (have in me a twofold element), but
rejects the usual view, that ἄρα.… ἁμαρτίας is a recapitulationof Romans
7:14 ff., and makes the new sectionbegin with Romans 7:25; so that, after the
experience of redemption has been indicated by εὐχαριστῶ κ.τ.λ., the
completely alteredinner state of the man is now described; in which new state
the νοῦς appears as emancipatedand serving the law of God, and only the
lowersphere of the life as still remaining under the law of sin. But againstthis
view we may urge, firstly, that Paul would have expressedhimself
inaccuratelyin point of logic, since in that case he must have written: ἄρα οὖν
αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τῇ μὲν σαρκὶ δουλεύω νόμῷ ἁμαρτίας, τῷ δὲ νοῒ νόμῷ Θεοῦ;
secondly, that according to Romans 7:2-3; Romans 7:9 ff. the redeemed
person is entirely liberated from the law of sin; and lastly, that if the
redeemedperson remained subject to the law of sin with the σάρξ, Paul could
not have saidοὐδὲν κατάκριμακ.τ.λ. in Romans 7:1; for see Romans 7:7-9.
Umbreit takes it as: even I; a climactic sense, whichis neither suggestedby the
context, nor in keeping with the deep humility of the whole confession.
δουλεύω νόμῳ Θεοῦ] in so far as the desire and striving of my moral reason
(see on Romans 7:23) are directed solelyto the good, consequentlysubmitted
to the regulative standard of the divine law. At the same time, however, in
accordancewith the double characterof my nature, I am subject with my
σάρξ (see on Romans 7:18) to the powerof sin, which preponderates (Romans
7:23), so that the direction of will in the νοῦς does not attain to the
κατεργάζεσθαι.
Remark 1. The mode in which we interpret Romans 7:14-25 is of decisive
importance for the relation betweenthe Church-doctrine of original sin, as

more exactly expressedin the Formula Concordiae, and the view of the
apostle;inasmuch as if in Romans 7:14 ff. it is the unredeemed man under the
law and its discipline, and not the regenerate manwho is under grace, that is
spokenof, then Paul affirms regarding the moral nature of the former and
concedes to it what the Church-doctrine decidedly denies to it—comparing it
(Form. Conc. p. 661 f.) with a stone, a block, a pillar of salt—in a way that
cannot be justified (in opposition to Frank, Theol. d. Concordienformel, I. p.
138 f.). Paul clearly ascribes to the higher powers of man (his reasonand
moral will) the assentto the law of God; while just as clearly, moreover, he
teaches the greatdisproportion in which these natural moral powers stand to
the predominance of the sinful power in the flesh, so that the liberum
arbitrium in spiritualibus is wanting to the natural man, and only emerges in
the case ofthe converted person(Romans 8:2). And this want of moral
freedom proceeds from the powerof sin, which is, according to Romans 7:8
ff., posited even with birth, and which asserts itselfin opposition to the divine
law.
Remark 2. How many a Jew in the presentday, earnestlyconcernedabout his
salvation, may, in relation to his law, feeland sigh just as Paul has here done;
only with this difference, that unlike Paul he cannot add the εὐχαριστῶ τῷ
Θεῷ κ.τ.λ.!
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK"/romans/7-25.htm"Romans 7:25.
The exclamationof thanksgiving shows that the longed-for deliverance has
actually been achieved. The regenerate man’s ideal contemplation of his pre-
Christian state rises with sudden joy into a declarationof his actual
emancipation as a Christian. διὰ Ἰ. Χ. τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Christ is regardedas
the mediator through whom the thanksgiving ascends to God, not as the
author of the deliverance for which thanks are given. With ἄρα οὖν αὐτὸς ἐγώ
the Apostle introduces the conclusionof this whole discussion. “So then I
myself—that is, I, leaving Jesus Christour Lord out of the question—canget
no further than this: with the mind, or in the inner man, I serve a law of God
(a Divine law), but with the flesh, or in my actual outward life, a law of sin.”
We might say the law of God, or of sin; but the absence ofthe definite article
emphasises the characterof law. αὐτὸς ἐγὼ: see 2 Corinthians 10:1; 2
Corinthians 12:13.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges25. I thank God] Here first light is
let in; the light of hope. The “redemption of the body” shall come. “He who
raisedup Christ” shall make the “mortalbody” immortally sinless, and so
complete the rescue and the bliss of the whole man. See Romans 8:11.

through Jesus Christ our Lord] “In whom shall all be made alive” (1
Corinthians 15:22). He is the meritorious Cause, and the sacredPledge.
So then, &c.]The Gr. order is So then I myself with the mind indeed do
bondservice to the law of God, but with the flesh to the law of sin. On “the
mind” here, see note just above, last but one on Romans 7:23. On “the law of
sin” see secondnote ibidem.—“To do bondservice to the law of God,” and that
with “the mind,” can only describe the state of things when “the mind” is
“renewed” (Romans 12:2).—Whatis the reference of“I myself”? (for so we
must render, and not, as with some translators, “The same I”). In strict
grammar it belongs to both clauses;to the service with the mind and to that
with the flesh. But remembering how St. Paul has recently dwelt on the Ego as
“willing” to obey the will of God, it seems bestto throw the emphasis, (as we
certainly may do in practice,)on the first clause. Q. d., “In a certain sense, I
am in bondage both to God and to sin; but my true self, my now regenerate
‘mind,’ is God’s bondservant; it is my ‘old man,’ my flesh, that serves sin.”
The statementis thus nearly the same as that in Romans 7:17; Romans 7:20.
The Apostle thus sums up and closes this profound description of the state of
self, even when regenerate, in view of the full demand of the sacredLaw. He
speaks, letus note again, as one whose very light and progress in Divine life
has given him an intense perceptionof sin as sin, and who therefore sees in the
faintest deviation an extent of pain, failure, and bondage, which the soul
before grace could not see in sin at all. He looks (Romans 7:25, init.) for
complete future deliverance from this pain; but it is a real pain now. And he
has describedit mainly with the view of emphasizing both the holiness of the
Law, and the fact that its function is, not to subdue sin, but to detect and
condemn it. In the golden passagesnow to follow, he sooncomes to the Agency
which is to subdue it indeed. See further, Postscript, p. 268.
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK"/romans/7-25.htm"Romans 7:25.
Εὐχαριστῶ, I give thanks)This is unexpectedly, though most pleasantly,
mentioned, and is now at length rightly acknowledged, as the one and only
refuge. The sentence is categorical:God will deliver me by Christ; the thing is
not in my own power: and that sentence indicates the whole matter: but the
moral made [modus moralis. end.] (of which, see on ch. Romans 6:17), I give
thanks, is added. (As in 1 Corinthians 15:57 : the sentiment is: God giveth us
the victory; but there is added the ηθος, or moral mode, Thanks be to God.)
And the phrase, I give thanks, as a joyful hymn, stands in opposition to the

miserable complaint, which is found in the preceding verse, wretchedthat I
am.—οὖν, then) He concludes those topics, on which he had entered at
Romans 7:7.—αὐτὸς ἐγὼ)I myself.—νόμῳ Θεοῦ—νόμῳ ἁμαρτίας,the law of
God—the law of sin) νόμῳ is the Dative, not the Ablative, Romans 7:23. Man
[the man, whom Paul personifies]is now equally balancedbetweenslavery
and liberty, and yet at the same time, panting after liberty, he acknowledges
that the law is holy and free from all blame. The balance is rarely even. Here
the inclination to goodhas by this time attained the greaterweightof the two.
The Fainting Warrior
“O wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? I thank God, through Jesus Christour Lord.”
Romans 7:24, 25
IF I chose to occupy your time with controversialmatter, I might
demonstrate that the Apostle Paul is here describing his own experience as
a Christian. Some have affirmed that he is merely declaring what he was
before conversionand not what he was when he became the recipient of the
Grace of God. But such persons are evidently mistakenand I believe
willfully mistaken. For any ample-hearted, candid mind, reading through
this chapter, could not fall into such an error. It is Paul the Apostle, who
was not less than the very greatestofthe Apostles–itis Paul, the mighty
servant of God, a very prince in Israel, one of the King’s mighty men–it is
Paul, the saint and the Apostle, who here exclaims, “O wretched man that I
am!”
Now, humble Christians are often the dupes of a very foolish error. They
look up to certainadvanced saints and able ministers and they say,
“Surely, such men as these do not suffer as I do. They do not contend with
the same evil passions as those which vex and trouble me.” Ah, if they
knew the heart of those men–if they could read their inward conflicts, they
would soondiscover that the nearera man lives to God, the more intensely

has he to mourn over his own evil heart. And the more his Masterhonors
him in his service, the more also does the evil of the flesh vex and tease him
day by day. Perhaps this error is more natural, as it is certainly more
common, with regardto apostolic saints. We have been in the habit of
saying, Saint Paul and Saint John, as if they were more saints than any
other of the children of God. They are all saints whom God has called by
His Grace and sanctifiedby His Spirit. But somehow we very foolishly put
the Apostles and the early saints into another list and do not venture to
look on them as common mortals. We look upon them as some
extraordinary beings, who could not be men of like passions with ourselves.
We are told in Scripture that our Savior was “tempted in all points like as
we are.” And yet we fall into the flagrant error of imagining that the
Apostles, who were far inferior to the Lord Jesus, escapedthese
temptations and were ignorant of these conflicts. The fact is, if you had
seenthe Apostle Paul, you would have thought he was remarkably like the
rest of the chosenfamily. And if you had talkedwith him, you would have
said, “Why, Paul, I find that your experience and mine exactly agree. You
are more faithful, more holy and more deeply taught than I, but you have
the self-same trials to endure. No, in some respects you are more sorely
tried than I.” Do not look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either
from infirmities or sins and do not regardthem with that mystic reverence
which almost makes you an idolater. Their holiness is attainable even by
you and their faults are to be censuredas much as your own.
I believe it is a Christian’s duty to force his wayinto the inner circle of
saintship. And if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as
they certainly were, let us follow them. Let us press forward up to, yes, and
beyond them, for I do not see that this is impossible. We have the same
light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us and why should we
rest satisfieduntil we have distanced them in the heavenly race? Let us
bring them down to the sphere of common mortals. If Jesus was the Son of
Man and very Man, “bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,” so were the
Apostles. And it is an flagrant error to suppose that they were not the
subjects of the same emotions and the same inward trials as the very worst
of the people of God. So far this may tend to our comfortand to our
encouragement, whenwe find that we are engagedin a battle in which
Apostles themselves have had to fight.
And now we shall notice this morning, first, the two natures. Secondlytheir
constantbattle. Thirdly, we shall step aside and look at the wearywarrior
and hear him cry, “O wretched man that I am.” And then we shall turn

our eyes in another direction and see that fainting warrior girding up his
loins to the conflict and becoming an expectant victor, while he shouts, “I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1. First, then, THE TWO NATURES. Carnalmen, unrenewedmen,
have one nature–a nature which they inherited from their parents and
which, through the ancienttransgressionofAdam, is evil, only evil and
that continually. Mere human nature, such as is common to every man, has
in it many excellenttraits, judging of it betweenman and man. A merely
natural man may be honest, upright, kind and generous. He may have
noble and generous thoughts and may attain unto a true and manly speech.
But when we come to matters of true religion, spiritual matters that
concernGod and eternity, the natural man cando nothing. The carnal
mind, whosever’s mind it may be, is fallen and is at enmity to God. It
knows nothing of the things of God, nor can it ever know them.
Now, when a man becomes a Christian, he becomes so through the infusion
of a new nature. He is naturally “dead in trespassesandsins,” and
“without God and without hope.” The Holy Spirit enters into him and
implants in him a new principle, a new nature, a new life. That life is a
high, holy and supernatural principle, it is, in fact the Divine nature, a ray
from the great“Fatherof Lights.” It is the Spirit of God dwelling in man.
Thus, you see, the Christian becomes a double man–two men in one. Some
have imagined that the old nature is turned out of the Christian–not so–for
the Word of God and experience teachthe contrary. The old nature is in
the Christian unchanged, unaltered, just the same, as bad as ever it was–
while the new nature in him is holy, pure and heavenly. And hence, as we
shall have to notice in the next place–hence there arises a conflict between
the two.
Now I want you to notice what the Apostle says about these two natures
that are in the Christian, for I am about to contrastthem. First, in our text
the Apostle calls the old nature “the body of this death.” Why does he call
it “the body of this death”? Some suppose he means these dying bodies. But
I do not think so. If it were not for sin, we should have no fault to find with
our poor bodies. They are noble works of Godand are not in themselves
the cause ofsin. Adam in the garden of perfection felt the body to be no
encumbrance, nor if sin were absentshould we have any fault to find with
our flesh and blood? What, then, is it? I think the Apostle calls the evil
nature within him a body, first, in opposition to those who talk of the relics
of corruption in a Christian. I have heard people say that there are relics,
remainders and remnants of sin in a Believer. Such men do not know much

about themselves yet. Oh, it is not a bone, or a rag which is left. It is the
whole body of sin that is there–the whole of it, “from the crownof the head
to the sole of the foot.”
Grace does not maim this body and cut away its members. It leaves it
entire, although blessedbe God, it crucifies it, nailing it to the Cross of
Christ. And again, I think he calls it a body because it is something
tangible. We all know that we have a body. It is a thing we can feel, we
know it is there. The new nature is a subtle spirit and not easyto detect–I
sometimes have to question myself as to whether it is there at all. But as for
my old nature, that is a body, I can never find it difficult to recognize its
existence–itis as apparent as flesh and bones. As I never doubt that I am in
flesh and blood, so I never doubt but what I have sin within me. It is a
body–a thing which I can see and feel and which, to my pain, is ever
present with me.
Understand, then, that the old nature of the Christian is a body. It has in it
a substance or, as Calvin puts it, it is a mass of corruption. It is not simply
a shred, a remnant–the cloth of the old garment, but the whole of it is there
still. True, it is crushed beneath the foot of grace. It is castout of its throne.
But it is there–there in all its entireness and in all its sad tangibility–a body
of death. But why does he call it a body of death? Simply to express what
an awful thing this sin is that remains in the heart. It is a body of death. I
must use a figure, which is always appended to this text and very properly
so. It was the custom of ancient tyrants, when they wishedto put men to
the most fearful punishments, to tie a dead body to them, placing the two
back to back. And there was the living man, with a dead body closely
strapped to him, rotting, putrid, corrupting and this he must drag with him
whereverhe went.
Now this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new
life. He has a living and undying principle, which the Holy Spirit has put
within him, but he feels that every day he has to drag about with him this
dead body, this body of death, a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as
abominable to his new life, as a dead stinking carcasswouldbe to a living
man. Francis Quarles gives a picture at the beginning of one of his
examples, of a greatskeletonin which a living man is encased. However
quaint the fancy, it is not more singular than true. There is the old skeleton
man, filthy, corrupt and abominable. He is a cage for the new principle
which God has put in the heart. Consider a moment the striking language
of our text, “The body of this death”–itis death incarnate, death
concentrated, deathdwelling in the very temple of life.

Did you ever think what an awful thing death is? The thought is the most
abhorrent to human nature. You sayyou do not fear death and very
properly. But the reasonwhy you do not fear death is because youlook to a
glorious immortality. Deathin itself is a most frightful thing. Now, inbred
sin has about it all the unknown terror, all the destructive force and all the
stupendous gloomof death. A poet would be needed to depict the conflict of
life with death–to describe a living soul condemned to walk through the
black shades of confusion and to bear incarnate death in its very bowels.
But such is the condition of the Christian. As a regenerate man he is a
firing, bright, immortal spirit. But he has to tread the shades of death. He
has to do daily battle with all the tremendous powers of sin, which are as
awful, as sublimely terrific, as even the powers of death and Hell.
Upon referring to the preceding chapter, we find the evil principle styled
“the old man.” There is much meaning in that word “old.” But let it suffice
us to remark that in age the new nature is not upon an equal footing with
the corrupt nature. There are some here who are sixty years old in their
humanity, who can scarcenumber two years in the life of grace. Now pause
and meditate upon the warfare in the heart. It is the contestof an infant
with a full-grown man, the wrestling of a babe with a giant. Old Adam, like
some ancient oak, has thrust his roots into the depths of Manhood–canthe
Divine infant uproot him and casthim from his place?
This is the work, this is the labor. From its birth the new nature begins the
struggle and it cannotcease from it until the victory be perfectly achieved.
Nevertheless,it is the moving of a mountain, the drying up of an ocean, the
threshing of the hills, and who is sufficient for these things? The Heaven-
born nature needs and will receive the abundant help of its Author, or it
would yield in the struggle, subdued beneath the superior strength of its
adversary and crushed beneath his enormous weight.
Again–observe that the old nature of man, which remains in the Christian,
is evil and it cannotever be anything else but evil, for we are told in this
chapter that “in me”–that is, in my flesh–“there dwells no goodthing.” The
old Adam-nature cannot be improved. It cannot be made better. It is
hopeless to attempt it. You may do what you please with it–you may
educate it, you may instruct it and thus you may give it more instruments
for rebellion–but you cannotmake the rebel into the friend, you cannot
turn the darkness into light. It is an enemy to God and an enemy to Godit
ever must be.
On the contrary, the new life which God has given us cannot sin. That is
the meaning of a passagein John, where it is said, “The child of God sins

not. He cannotsin, because he is born of God.” The old nature is evil, only
evil–and that continually. The new nature is wholly good. It knows nothing
of sin, except to hate it. Its contactwith sin brings it pain and misery and it
cries out, “Woe is me that I dwell in Meshech, that I tabernacle in the tents
of Kedar.”
I have thus given you some little picture of the two natures. Let me again
remind you that these two natures are essentiallyunchangeable. You
cannot make the new nature which God has given you less Divine. The old
nature you cannot make less impure and earthly. Old Adam is a
condemned thing. You may sweepthe house and the evil spirit may seemto
go out of it, but he will come back againand bring with him sevenother
devils more wickedthan himself. It is a leper’s house and the leprosy is in
every stone from the foundation to the roof. There is no part sound. It is a
garment spotted by the flesh. You may washand washand wash, but you
shall never washit clean. It were foolishto attempt it. While on the other
hand the new nature can never be tainted–spotless, holyand pure, it dwells
in our hearts. It rules and reigns there expecting the day when it shall cast
out its enemy and without a rival it shall be monarch in the heart of man
forever.
II. I have thus described the two combatants. We shall now come in the
next place to THEIR BATTLE. There was never deadlier feud in all the
world betweennations than there is betweenthe two principles, right and
wrong. But right and wrong are often divided from one anotherby
distance and therefore they have a less intense hatred. Suppose an
instance–rightholds for liberty, therefore right hates the evil of slavery.
But we do not so intensely hate slaveryas we should do if we saw it before
our eyes–thenwould the blood boil–when we saw our black brother,
smitten by the cowhide whip. Imagine a slaveholderstanding here and
smiting his poor slave until the red blood gushed forth in a river–canyou
conceive your indignation?
Now it is distance which makes you feel this less acutely. The right forgets
the wrong, because it is far away. But suppose now that right and wrong
lived in the same house. Suppose two such desperate enemies, cribbed,
cabined and confined within this narrow house, man. Suppose the two
compelled to dwell together–canyou imagine to what a desperate pitch of
fury these two would get with one another? The evil thing says, “I will turn
you out, you intruder. I cannot be peacefulas I would, I cannotriot as I
would, I cannot indulge just as I would–out with you! I will never be
content until I slay you.”

“No,” says the new born nature, “I will kill you and drive you out. I will
not suffer stick or stone of you to remain. I have swornwar to the knife
with you. I have taken out the swordand castawaythe scabbardand will
never rest till I can sing complete victory over you and totally ejectyou
from this house of mine.” They are always at enmity whereverthey are.
They were never friends and never can be. The evil must hate the goodand
the goodmust hate the evil.
And mark–althoughwe might compare the enmity to the wolf and lamb,
yet the newborn nature is not the lamb in all respects. It may be in its
innocence and meekness, but it is not in its strength. For the newborn
nature has all the omnipotence of God about it, while the old nature has all
the strength of the Evil One in it, which is a strength not easily to be
exaggerated, but which we very frequently underestimate. These two
things are ever desperatelyat enmity with one another. And even when
they are both quiet they hate eachother none the less.
When my evil nature does not rise, still it hates the newborn nature and
when the newborn nature is inactive, it has nevertheless a thorough
abhorrence of all iniquity. The one cannotendure the other, it must
endeavorto thrust it forth. Nor do these at any time allow an opportunity
to pass from being revenged upon one another. There are times when the
old nature is very active and then how will it ply all the weapons of its
deadly armory againstthe Christian. You will find yourselves at one time
suddenly attackedwith anger and when you guard yourself againstthe hot
temptation, on a sudden you will find pride rising and you will begin to say
in yourself–“Am I not a goodman to have kept my temper down?”
And the moment you thrust down your pride there will come another
temptation and lust will look out of the window of your eyes and you desire
a thing upon which you ought not to look and before you canshut your
eyes upon the vanity, sloth in its deadly torpor surrounds you and you give
yourself up to its influence and cease to labor for God. And then when you
bestir yourselves once more, in the very attempt to rouse yourself you have
once more awakenedyour pride. Evil haunts you, go where you may, or
stand in what posture you choose.
On the other hand the new nature will never lose an opportunity of putting
down the old. As for the means of grace, the newborn nature will never rest
satisfiedunless it enjoys them. As for prayer, it will seek by prayer to
wrestle with the enemy. It will employ faith and hope and love, the threats,
the promises, Providence, Grace andeverything else to castout the evil.
Well,“ says one, "I don’t find it so.” ThenI am afraid for you. If you do not

Jesus was delivering from the body of death

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