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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: Who is the Wretched Man? |
Bible Note: Greetings Steve! Thanks for the response my friend! Allow me to address your question to me first. 1) Wretched man - I believe that I had noted in another post (of course I am getting older, so I may not have) that I view the wretched man not as a description an unregenerate person would give of himself, but of a mature Christian's (Paul) descriptive of his past life as a Pharisee. It is not how an unregenerate person would describe himself. I have been doing a lot of reading on this topic over the last week. It is interesting to note that they early church fathers viewed Rom. 7:14-25 as a description of the unregenerate man until the time of Augustine. In Augustine's early writings, he too viewed Rom. 7:14-25 as a description of unregenerate man. However, in his latter writings, he changed his view - and his view has been the most popular one since that time. 2) Now, let's look at your understanding that Paul is saying the 'flesh' is sold into sin, not him. Here is the literal translation of Rom. 7:14: "We know for that the law spiritual is, I but fleshly am sold into slavery (perfect, passive, participle) unto the sin." 'Flesh' here is an adjective describing the 'I' of the passage, and thus, cannot be the subject of the verb 'sold into sin'. Thus, it is 'I' who is 'sold into slavery to sin'. My original concern still applies that this statement, if describing a regenerate person, is a direct contradiction to Rom. 6 which tells us that we are not longer slaves to sin. By the way, the perfect tense indicates a past action with ongoing present results. This has been an interesting study. I am currently involved in looking at all of Paul's uses of 'sarx'. I am presently in Gal. 5:17. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |