O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Romans 7:24
Ancient Rome was an extremely cruel regime, devising punishments that were brutal beyond belief.
Our precious Redeemer was subject to such an agonising death penalty by crucifixion.
Being a Roman citizen, Paul would have been familiar with the practices of the empire. In the verse above he uses an obscure 'body of death' punishment as an illustration.
This is where a murderer was shackled to the dead body of his victim: face to face, eye to eye, hand to hand and foot to foot. For the rest of his life he would have to carry around his victim, waking and sleeping, with the corpse rotting before him. Each day the stench would grow worse - confronting him with decay and disease. Until, finally, some infection would bring down the curtain on life!
"Whoa!", you say: "how unthinkably sadistic is that? Thank goodness that no one could ever do that to someone today!"
Yet Paul uses this analogy about himself and ourselves in our spiritual struggle with sin.
He obviously was plagued with guilt at some points in his Christian life. In truth, he had been extreme in his pursuit and murder of believers in Jesus before his own conversion.
These former acts of sin were apt to haunt his everyday life, much like the "body of death" torture - ever before him - waking and sleeping.
His cry of "O wretched man that I am" echoes our own heart, when guilt and shame taunt us, throwing up things from the past that can never be put right.
It's vital that we stop shackling ourselves or others to past sins or we will perfume our existence with the smell of it. How will that attract anyone to the Lord Jesus?
Jesus set us free, so we too should set ourselves free and let others off the hook.
Interestingly, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he came out wrapped in grave clothes. Jesus told the people: "loose him and let him go"!
John 11:43-44
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Perhaps it's our responsibility to stop waving past mistakes in the face of a loved one. Time to loose them and let them go.
Satan is the great accuser, we must stop aiding and abetting his work!
Equally, it's time to stop clinging to our own mistakes, continually blaming ourselves, when Jesus and others have forgiven us.
In the movie "The Mission" [a great watch] Robert de Niro's character has murdered someone and attempts to make reparation by dragging a load behind him while on a mission to bring the gospel to a south American tribe. Eventually, the priest cuts the load away - and the relief and joy overflows, when he realises that he doesn't have to drag it around forever!
Paul finishes the chapter by reminding himself (and us too) that Jesus has removed those shackles and taken away our guilt [that awful dead body of sin]. We don't have to keep dragging it or looking at it anymore.
How can we not shout "hallelujah"!
Romans 7:25
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
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