Romans 7:24-25
(24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
(25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Paul expressed that frustration in his exclamation, What a wretched man I am! Significantly Paul’s description of himself is part of John’s picture of the church of Laodicea—“wretched” (Rev. 3:17). The apostle then asked, Who will rescue me from this body of death? Paul recognized that as long as he was in his mortal body he would face the conflict with the indwelling sin principle and would have defeat in his own strength. Here he wrote of the “body of death”; in Romans 6:6 he wrote of the “body of sin.” These mean that sin works through one’s human body (cf. 6:6, 12-13, 19; 7:5, 23), bringing death (6:16, 21, 23; 7:10-11, 13; 8:10). Paul’s answer to this question was triumphant and immediate: Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Paul in this answer was looking to the final triumph of Jesus Christ for His people. Just as believers are identified with Him in His death and resurrection by faith here and now, so they will join their resurrected and exalted Lord for all eternity in new bodies, free forever from the presence of sin (8:23; Phil. 3:20-21). Meanwhile, in this life, Paul concluded, I myself in my mind (noi; cf. noos in Rom. 7:23) am a slave (lit., “am serving as a slave”) to God’s Law, but in the sinful nature (sarki, “flesh”; cf. vv. 5, 18, where sarki, from sarx, is also trans. “sinful nature”) a slave to the law of sin (cf. “slave to sin,” v. 14). While awaiting freedom from the presence of sin, believers still face conflicts between their regenerated minds (or new natures or capacities) and their sin natures or capacities.
Excerpt from:
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
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