Wretched Man that I Am!

We have been studying in Romans 7 & 8 in our ladies Bible class and discussing Paul's frustrations with the war between his spirit and his flesh. I believe this is a battle that each of us daily engage in or, should engage in as Christians. In Rom. 7:18, Paul makes the statement that in his flesh nothing good dwells. I understand his point to be that if we allow our fleshly side to rule, then nothing good will be produced, but only evil. It is our spiritual side that is responsible for controlling our fleshly desires.

After discussing that fact in class today, I'm afraid there are some of us as Christians who have difficulty admitting that we have an evil or wicked side to us as Paul states in Rom. 7. I believe that is the whole point of his diatribe here in Rom. 5, 6, 7, & 8. We must die to ourselves and live to Christ. My concern is, if we do not see how sinful sin is and that no matter how "small" my sin may be in my eyes, it is sin nonetheless and it can send me to eternal damnation, then we are deceiving ourselves. Thus, Paul's conclusion in 7:24, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" The comment may be made, "Paul wasn't really that bad. He was a good Christian." The only reason to come to such a conclusion is to justify our own shortcomings and not have to call ourselves "wretched".

1 John 1:10 says if we say we have not sinned then we make Him a liar. Rom. 3:23 says we have all sinned and fall short. Both of these are written to Christians. God recognizes that each of us are sinners and we need to recognize it as well. If we do not see ourselves as we really are--wretched-- then why would we bother to change? But, thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord we will be delivered from the curse of death and damnation--if we recognize our condition and repent, calling on our God for forgiveness.

We must be very careful to not think better of ourselves than we really are. After God rebukes Job for questioning what had happened to him, Job replies to God, "Behold I am vile...I lay my hand over my mouth." Just a few verses later, God commends Job for his righteousness. Which was he; vile or righteous? I suggest to you he was righteous because he recognized he was vile and that recognition caused him to humble himself before God, continuously repenting of his sins.

Paul, who suffered so much for the cause of Christ, calls himself the chief of sinners. He understood that it wasn't "how good you were or how much you did for the Lord" that would save you, but were you forgiven of your sins. We all can say with Paul, "O wretched man that I am!" We all need salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dana Burk