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NASB | Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 7:24 Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? |
Subject: Does this refrence the tyrant Mezentius? |
Bible Note: I dissagree: Here's my thoughts. Before you ask why did I ask if I knew, well I wanted to stimulate discussion. Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (KJV) Why did Paul say this, and what does it mean? Where did this come from, the carrying around of dead bodies? What don¡¯t we know? Philo the Jew(1) represents the body as a burden to the soul, which ¥í¥å¥ê¥ñ¥ï¥õ¥ï¥ñ¥ï¥ô¥ò¥á, "it carries about as a dead carcass, and never lies down from his birth till his death¡¦" The apostle Paul wanted to be a regenerated man. The whole of Romans chapters 6 and 7 is about sin, the death of sin, and how to be re-born in Christ. Paul¡¯s passionate account is finished more impressively by his groans of sorrow. ¡°O wretched man that I am!¡± These groans could be very reminiscent of a captured wounded soldier. One who has been having a prolonged and useless conflict against innumerable hosts and irresistible might! A man, who was finally wounded and lastly taken prisoner, and, to render his state even more miserable, not only is he imprisoned, but he is also chained to a dead body; for, that seems to be the allusion here (2)(3) . An allusion that refers to the ancient tyrant Mezentius (4) and the torture that he inflicted on criminals, namely murders. This punishment was to fasten the murder victims to the back of the murder. This dead body was never to be removed, under penalty of death. The living murder had to then carry his victim around with him everywhere he went. The Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BC) illustrates this atrocity in all its horrors, in the account that he gives of the tyrant Mezentius. What tongue can such barbarities record, Or count the slaughters of his ruthless sword? ¡®Twas not enough the good, the guiltless bled, Still worse, he bound the living to the dead: These, limb to limb, and face to face, he joined; O! monstrous crime, of unexampled kind! Till choked with stench, the lingering wretches lay, And, in the loathed embraces, died away! (5) Paul refers to his old dead self as the dead carcass, stinking and loathsome; and is referenced by him like the punishment just mentioned. Paul emphatically referred to the dying of the woman to the first husband, for example, the body of "this death", referring it to the captivity of one¡¯s mind and attaching it to the law of sin, which was like death to him. No wonder that he wanted deliverance so badly, saying, "who shall deliver me?" In which he speaks not as being ignorant of his deliverer, because he mentions Him with thankfulness in Rom_7:25. Paul knows that he does not doubt or despairing for his deliverance, for he was very much assured of it. He, therefore, gives thanks, to God, beforehand for it. It was as if he was first expressing the inward soul searching. In doing so he was breathing hard, panting. Afterwards we find the earnest, deep-breathing of his relaxed soul. It is as if he was declaring the impossibility of deliverance being obtained by himself. He knew he could not deliver himself from sin. He knew that the law could not deliver him from sin. He knew that none but Jesus could deliver him from sin. And, which he believed, nay, he had faith that Jesus would show His ever-loving agape Grace to Paul and thereby saving him forever and ever. Your Brother In Christ, Russ ... footnotes: 1 De Agricultura, p. 191. 2 Spurgeon Sermon #235 ¡°the Fainting Warrior¡±, January 23, 1859. 3 Nee, Watchman, ¡°The Normal Christian Life¡±, p. 172. 4 Mezentius king of the Tyrrhenians, noted for his cruelties and impiety. He was driven from his throne by his subjects, and fled to Turnus, King of the Rutuli. When ¨¡neas arrived he fought with Mezentius, and slew both him and his son Lausus. Mezentius put his subjects to death by tying a living man to a dead one. "He stretches out the arm of Mezentius, and fetters the dead to the living."- C. Bronte: Shirley, chap. xxxi. (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/Ma/Me/Mezentius.html) 5 Aeneid, lib. viii. ver. 485. |
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Morant61 |