All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
This Death
Romans 7:24-25: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?”
We are continuing to examine spiritual death. Understanding spiritual death, especially as a condition in which every human being is born into this world, highlights our absolute need of the total grace of God in our salvation.
We have seen the Scriptures’ definition of grace to be that which is given and received from God freely, without condition, effort, merit, or right from the receiver (read Romans 4:4; 11:6). For grace to be grace it cannot be something earned or deserved. Grace is that which is freely given and received.
Hence, it is this death, inherent in all unregenerate human beings, that makes it necessary for God to deal with us by grace in bringing us salvation and spiritual life. What can a dead creature contribute or do to save itself? To be dead is to be totally helpless and unable to make any contribution or effort towards meeting one’s need. So, rendered powerless by a body of this death, all unregenerate human beings need grace to help them find salvation. And all of us must be extremely grateful that God has chosen to minister salvation to us fully by grace.
Let us look closely at how Paul describes the operation the body of this death in rendering him completely powerless and humbled in his futile efforts to overcome the evil inclinations in him in spite of his constant desire and intention to do what is good. To Paul, the body of this death was a body completely void of the life of righteousness. It signified the total pervasion of spiritual death to his whole being and it made him incapable of doing the good things he intended to do. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find” (Romans 7:18).
Paul had to acknowledge the humbling reality that in spite of his being a well-cultured, highly educated, religious man, the truth was that in his unregenerate condition – in his flesh – was total corruption. Paul was conceding to what Jesus had taught Nicodemus, another top religious man who had come to Jesus seeking power to do good like Jesus was doing. Jesus had pointed out plainly to Nicodemus that being born of the flesh, he was flesh, and to do God’s righteousness he had to born again of the Spirit into a spiritual man (John 3:1-7).
Joining a religion or adopting religious behavior cannot change the nature of the flesh. There is absolutely nothing good in the flesh. The flesh is totally evil. Being totally corrupt was not only Paul’s condition when he was in the flesh, but it is the universal condition of all unregenerate human beings. Paul points out: “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin worked in our members through the law to bring forth fruit to death” (Romans 7:5).
The passions of sin, the evil affections, the corrupt desires, and the lusts of the flesh of the body of this death operate in the unregenerate man in the flesh like an embedded law or driving force which he cannot resist. “I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me” (Romans 7:21). The operation of this death is described even more graphically in Ephesians 2:1-3: "And you ... were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."
The devastating operation of the body of this death is a humbling discovery for the pious and noble unregenerate man who hopes for acceptance by God in his self-righteousness. But if he can become humble enough he finds there comfort and consolation in the truth of the Gospel that it is in that condition God has planned to meet him by grace, deliver him from the body of this death, and bring him into a life of true righteousness in Christ. For a fact, whether we want to accept it or not, we cannot change the reality we all were born with the body of this death. But whoever wants to be delivered from it must first humbly face the reality of being under its dominion, deny hope in any self-righteous effort, and helplessly call on the name of the Lord to be rescued by grace.
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).
We are continuing to examine spiritual death. Understanding spiritual death, especially as a condition in which every human being is born into this world, highlights our absolute need of the total grace of God in our salvation.
We have seen the Scriptures’ definition of grace to be that which is given and received from God freely, without condition, effort, merit, or right from the receiver (read Romans 4:4; 11:6). For grace to be grace it cannot be something earned or deserved. Grace is that which is freely given and received.
Hence, it is this death, inherent in all unregenerate human beings, that makes it necessary for God to deal with us by grace in bringing us salvation and spiritual life. What can a dead creature contribute or do to save itself? To be dead is to be totally helpless and unable to make any contribution or effort towards meeting one’s need. So, rendered powerless by a body of this death, all unregenerate human beings need grace to help them find salvation. And all of us must be extremely grateful that God has chosen to minister salvation to us fully by grace.
Let us look closely at how Paul describes the operation the body of this death in rendering him completely powerless and humbled in his futile efforts to overcome the evil inclinations in him in spite of his constant desire and intention to do what is good. To Paul, the body of this death was a body completely void of the life of righteousness. It signified the total pervasion of spiritual death to his whole being and it made him incapable of doing the good things he intended to do. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find” (Romans 7:18).
Paul had to acknowledge the humbling reality that in spite of his being a well-cultured, highly educated, religious man, the truth was that in his unregenerate condition – in his flesh – was total corruption. Paul was conceding to what Jesus had taught Nicodemus, another top religious man who had come to Jesus seeking power to do good like Jesus was doing. Jesus had pointed out plainly to Nicodemus that being born of the flesh, he was flesh, and to do God’s righteousness he had to born again of the Spirit into a spiritual man (John 3:1-7).
Joining a religion or adopting religious behavior cannot change the nature of the flesh. There is absolutely nothing good in the flesh. The flesh is totally evil. Being totally corrupt was not only Paul’s condition when he was in the flesh, but it is the universal condition of all unregenerate human beings. Paul points out: “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin worked in our members through the law to bring forth fruit to death” (Romans 7:5).
The passions of sin, the evil affections, the corrupt desires, and the lusts of the flesh of the body of this death operate in the unregenerate man in the flesh like an embedded law or driving force which he cannot resist. “I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me” (Romans 7:21). The operation of this death is described even more graphically in Ephesians 2:1-3: "And you ... were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."
The devastating operation of the body of this death is a humbling discovery for the pious and noble unregenerate man who hopes for acceptance by God in his self-righteousness. But if he can become humble enough he finds there comfort and consolation in the truth of the Gospel that it is in that condition God has planned to meet him by grace, deliver him from the body of this death, and bring him into a life of true righteousness in Christ. For a fact, whether we want to accept it or not, we cannot change the reality we all were born with the body of this death. But whoever wants to be delivered from it must first humbly face the reality of being under its dominion, deny hope in any self-righteous effort, and helplessly call on the name of the Lord to be rescued by grace.
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Wally on
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Your last sentence summarizes it all, it is only in our desperation, in our finally realizing who and what we are (sinful creatures lost to death) that we can fully see the magnitude of the gift that we have been offered through the sacrifice of Christ. It is when we fall to our knees and proclaim our lostness, when we cry out to God in our desperation, when we fully acknowledge our helplessness and total dependance on Him that He reaches down and lifts us up and wraps us in His Grace and we receive the salvation he provides.
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Permalink Reply by PoiemaDei on
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Thanks, Charles and Wally. The interesting point is this. Whether or not we ackowledge and recognize the role of grace in our salvation, the Scripture is straightforward on the fact that this is how the Lord saves anyone. And, moreover, God has an objective in saving us by grace. It is to demonstrate to all in the ages to come that he saved us all by grace. So, do you think that there is anyone who will be saved and in the end prove to God and to those God is demonstrating His grace in salvation it was not fully by grace but some sort of self-effort was involved?
Ephesians 2:7-9: "that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." -
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Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on
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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! This is the answer for us all. Jesus has made a way for us to receive grace, to have spiritual rebirth, and most of all victory over the the enemy and the world which was like a bit in a horses mouth that kept us in bondage. The grace that has come to us as Christians is awesome, it has brought to us everything we need to live a victorious life for with it came God The Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Grace. We can walk in victory with the one who come to our side and assist us, counsels us, teaches us, empowers us, conforms us and leads us into glorious victory over the body of death, the world, and the enemy.
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Wonderful, Bob! We are always grateful for your contribution on this vital subject of grace.
The central role of Jesus Christ in our salvation can not be overemphasized. We thank God we are not dealing with a prescription or instruction manual, which one has to ensure is understood properly to benifit from the remedy or equipment it describes. We are delaing with a person - the person who Himself is our Saviour, our living Saviour.
Like it is put in Hebrews 7:24-25: "But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."
If we can appreciate the central role of the grace of God and Jesus Christ in our salvation, we will be relieved by the truth that our salvation was never meant to be man's project but God's profect. And that's where FAITH comes in - absolute dependence or reliance on Jesus Christ to save us to the uttermost. -
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