Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself, who is Emmanuel from the Virgin, is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says: "For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing," showing that the "good thing" of our salvation is not from us, but from God. And again: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then he introduces the Deliverer, [saying, ] "The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord." And Isaiah declares this also, [when he says: ] "Be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be comforted, fear not: behold, our God has given judgment with retribution, and shall recompense: He will come Himself, and will save us." Here we see, that not by ourselves, but by the help of God, we must be saved.”

“Even if the heretics who are opposed to the Creator suppose that in the next sentence Paul was speaking against him when he says, "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing," yet let them read what precedes and follows this. For before it he says, "But sin which dwells in me," which explains why it was appropriate for him to say, "in my flesh dwells no good thing." In what follows he continues, "But if I do that which I do not wish to do, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells in me," which being at war with the law of God and "of my mind," he says, "makes me captive by the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death." And again (for he does not become in the least weary of being helpful) he does not hesitate to add, "For the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death," since by his Son "God condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." In addition to this he makes the point still clearer by saying emphatically, "The body is dead because of sin," indicating that if it is not the temple, it is still the tomb of the soul. For when it is dedicated to God, he adds, "the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, who shall also make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit dwelling in you."”

“We have a physician—let us follow his remedy! Our remedy is the grace of Christ, and the body of death is our body. Let us therefore be exiled from the body lest we be exiled from Christ. Even if we are in the body let us not follow what is of the body. Let us not neglect the rights of nature, but let us prefer the gifts of grace.”

“Do you notice what a great thraldom that of vice is, in that it overcomes even a mind that delighted in the Law? For no one can rejoin, he means, that I hate the Law and abhor it, and so sin overcomes me. For "I delight in it, and consent to it," and flee for refuge to it, yet still it had not the power of saving one who had fled to it. But Christ saved even one that fled from Him. See what a vast advantage grace has! Yet the Apostle has not stated it thus; but with a sigh only, and a great lamentation, as if devoid of any to help him, he points out by his perplexity the might of Christ, and says, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" The Law has not been able: conscience has proved unequal to it, though it praised what was good, and did not praise it only, but even fought against the contrary of it. For by the very words "warreth against" he shows that he was marshalled against it for his part. From what quarter then is one to hope for salvation?”

“And again that Apostle saith from the whole person of his human nature, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" And after he has asked questioningly who is able to deliver him, he revealeth, and confesseth and teacheth by his word Who He is that shall deliver him from the old and mortal nature, saying, "I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ Who hath delivered me from this body of death."”

“After the Apostle has shown that the law is good from the fact that it agrees with reason, here he draws two conclusions according to the two things he had set down; the second is set down where he says, "But I see another law," etc. Concerning the first he does two things. First he draws the conclusion from what has been said; second he sets down a sign for the greater manifestation of it, where he says, "I am delighted," etc. Now he had set down two things above. The first indeed, that the law is spiritual; this having now been proved, he concludes thus: "I find then" — that is, by experience — that the law of Moses is in accord with me willing to do good, that is, with my reason, by which I approve the good and detest the evil, since that law itself also commands the good and forbids the evil. Deuteronomy 30:14: "The word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it." And in this way it was necessary that — that is, because evil, that is, sin or the tinder of sin, is present to me — that is, lies alongside my reason, as it were inhabiting my flesh. Micah 8:5: "From her that sleeps in your bosom, guard the closures of your mouth," that is, from the flesh. Then when he says, "For I am delighted," etc., he sets down a sign by which it is shown that the law agrees with reason. For no one is delighted except in that which is fitting to him. But man according to reason is delighted in the law of God; therefore the law of God is fitting to reason. And this is what he says: "I am delighted with the law of God according to the interior man," that is, according to reason and mind, which is called the interior man — not because the soul is figured according to the form of a man, as Tertullian held, or because it alone is the man, as Plato held, that man is a soul using a body; but because that which is more principal in man is called man, as was said above. Now in man that which is more principal according to appearance indeed is that which is exterior, namely the body so figured, which is called the exterior man; but according to truth, that which is intrinsic, namely the mind or reason, is what is here called the interior man. Psalm 118:103: "How sweet are your words to my throat." 1 Maccabees 12:9: "Having for our solace the holy books that are in our hands." Then when he says, "But I see," etc., he sets down another conclusion which corresponds to what he had said above, saying, "But I am carnal," etc. Saying, "I see another law in my members," which is the tinder of sin, which indeed can be called law for a twofold reason. In one way on account of similar effects, because just as the law induces to doing good, so the tinder induces to sinning. In another way by comparison to its cause. Now since the tinder is a certain punishment of sin, it has a twofold cause: one indeed sin itself, which took dominion in the sinner and imposed on him a law, which is the tinder, just as a lord imposes a law on a conquered servant. The other cause of the tinder is God, who placed this punishment on man when he sinned, so that the lower powers should not obey his reason. And according to this, the very disobedience of the lower powers, which is called the tinder, is called law insofar as it is introduced through the law of divine justice, like the sentence of a just judge, which has the force of law, according to that saying, 1 Kings 30:25: "And this was done from that day forward, and it was appointed and determined, and became as it were a law in Israel unto this day." But this law consists originally indeed in the sensitive appetite, but is found diffusively in all the members, which serve concupiscence unto sinning. Above, Romans 6:19: "Just as you presented your members to serve uncleanness," etc. And therefore he says, "in my members." Now this law has two effects in man. For first it resists reason, and as to this he says, "fighting against the law of my mind," that is, against the law of Moses, which is called the law of the mind insofar as it accords with the mind, or against the natural law, which is called the law of the mind because it is naturally implanted in the mind. Above, Romans 2:15: "Who show the work of the law written in their hearts." And concerning this fighting it is said, Galatians 5:17: "The flesh lusts against the spirit." The second effect is that it reduces man into servitude. And as to this he adds, "and captivating me," or according to another reading, "leading me captive," "in the law of sin, which is in my members," that is, in myself, after the manner of Hebrew speech, according to which nouns are put in place of pronouns. But the law of sin takes man captive in two ways: in one way, the sinning man, through consent and operation; in another way, the man established under grace, as to the movement of concupiscence. Concerning this captivity it is said in Psalm 125:1: "When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion." Then when he says, "Unhappy man that I am," etc., he deals with liberation from the law of sin, and does three things concerning this. First indeed he poses the question; second he gives the answer, where he says, "the grace of God," etc.; third he draws the conclusion, where he says, "therefore I myself," etc. Concerning the first he does two things. One thing indeed he confesses, namely his own misery, when he says, "Unhappy man that I am" — which indeed is on account of the sin which dwells in man, whether only as to the flesh, as in the just man, or also as to the mind, as in the sinner. Proverbs 14:34: "Sin makes peoples miserable." Psalm 37:7: "I have been made miserable and bowed down even to the end." The other thing he asks, saying, "Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" This indeed seems to be the question of one desiring, according to that saying, Psalm 141:10: "Bring my soul out of prison." It must be known, however, that in the body of man one can consider both the very nature of the body, which is fitting to the soul, whence the soul does not wish to be separated from it — 2 Corinthians 5:4: "We do not wish to be stripped, but to be clothed over" — and again the corruption of the body, which weighs down the soul, according to that saying, Wisdom 9:15: "The body which is corrupted weighs down the soul," etc. And therefore he says pointedly, "from the body of this death." Then when he says, "The grace of God," etc., he answers the question. For man cannot by his own powers be freed from the corruption of the body, nor even of the soul, although he consents with reason against sin, but only through the grace of Christ, according to that saying, John 8:36: "If the Son shall have made you free, you shall be free indeed." And therefore there follows, "the grace of God" — namely, will free me — "which is given through Jesus Christ." John 1:17: "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Now this frees from the body of this death in two ways: in one way, so that the corruption of the body does not dominate the mind, dragging it to sin; in another way, so that the corruption of the body is totally removed. As to the first, therefore, it is fitting for the sinner to say: "grace has freed me from the body of this death," that is, it has freed me from the sin into which the soul is led by the corruption of the body. But from this the just man is already freed, whence it belongs to him to say, as to the second: "the grace of God has freed me from the body of this death," namely, that in my body there be no corruption of sin or of death — which will be in the resurrection. Then when he says, "Therefore I myself," etc., he draws a conclusion which, according to the two aforesaid expositions, is inferred differently from what precedes. For according as the aforesaid words are expounded in the person of the sinner, the conclusion is to be inferred thus: it was said that the grace of God freed me from the body of this death, namely so that I might not be led by it into sin; therefore, when I shall already be freed, with the mind I serve the law of God, but according to the flesh the law of sin, which indeed remains in the flesh as to the tinder, through which the flesh lusts against the spirit. But if the aforesaid words are understood from the person of the just man, it is to be inferred thus: the grace of God through Jesus Christ freed me from the body of this death, namely so that in me there be no corruption of sin and of death. Therefore, I myself, one and the same, before I am freed, with the mind serve the law of God, consenting to it, but with the flesh I serve the law of sin, insofar as my flesh, according to the law of the flesh, is moved to concupiscence.”

“I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,.... There is a different reading of this passage; some copies read, and so the Vulgate Latin version, thus, "the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord"; which may be considered as an answer to the apostle's earnest request for deliverance, "who shall deliver me?" the grace of God shall deliver me. The grace of God the Father, which is communicated through Christ the Mediator by the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ, the principle of grace formed in the soul by the Spirit of God, which reigns in the believer as a governing principle, through righteousness unto eternal life, will in the issue deliver from indwelling sin, and all the effects of it: but the more general reading is, "thanks be to God", or "I thank God"; the object of thanksgiving is God, as the Father of Christ, and the God of all grace: the medium of it is Christ as Mediator, through whom only we have access to God; without him we can neither pray to him, nor praise him aright; our sacrifices of praise are only acceptable to God, through Christ; and as all our mercies come to us through him, it is but right and fitting that our thanksgivings should pass the same way: the thing for which thanks is given is not expressed, but is implied, and is deliverance; either past, as from the power of Satan, the dominion of sin, the curse of the law, the evil of the world, and from the hands of all spiritual enemies, so as to endanger everlasting happiness; or rather, future deliverance, from the very being of sin: which shows, that at present, and whilst in this life, saints are not free from it; that it is God only that must, and will deliver from it; and that through Christ his Son, through whom we have victory over every enemy, sin, Satan, law, and death; and this shows the apostle's sure and certain faith and hope of this matter, who concludes his discourse on this head thus: so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin; observe, he says, "I myself", and not another; whence it is clear, he does not represent another man in this discourse of his; for this is a phrase used by him, when he cannot possibly be understood of any other but himself; see Rom 9:3; he divides himself as it were into two parts, the mind, by which he means his inward man, his renewed self; and "the flesh", by which he designs his carnal I, that was sold under sin: and hereby he accounts for his serving, at different times, two different laws; "the law of God", written on his mind, and in the service of which he delighted as a regenerate man; "and the law of sin", to which he was sometimes carried captive: and it should be taken notice of, that he does not say "I have served", as referring to his past state of unregeneracy, but "I serve", as respecting his present state as a believer in Christ, made up of flesh and spirit; which as they are two different principles, regard two different laws: add to all this, that this last account the apostle gives of himself, and which agrees with all he had said before, and confirms the whole, was delivered by him, after he had with so much faith and fervency given thanks to God in a view of his future complete deliverance from sin; which is a clinching argument and proof that he speaks of himself, in this whole discourse concerning indwelling sin, as a regenerate person. Next: Romans Chapter 8”

“O wretched man that I am, etc. - This affecting account is finished more impressively by the groans of the wounded captive. Having long maintained a useless conflict against innumerable hosts and irresistible might, he is at last wounded and taken prisoner; and to render his state more miserable, is not only encompassed by the slaughtered, but chained to a dead body; for there seems to be here an allusion to an ancient custom of certain tyrants, who bound a dead body to a living man, and obliged him to carry it about, till the contagion from the putrid mass took away his life! Virgil paints this in all its horrors, in the account he gives of the tyrant Mezentius. Aeneid, lib. viii. ver. 485. Quid memorem infandas caedes? quid facta tyranni? Mortua quin etiam jungebat corpora Vivis, Componens manibusque manus, atque oribus ora; Tormenti genus! et sanie taboque fluentes Complexu in misero, longa sic morte necabat. 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! Pitt. Servius remarks, in his comment on this passage, that sanies, mortui est; tabo, viventis scilicet sanguis: "the sanies, or putrid ichor, from the dead body, produced the tabes in the blood of the living." Roasting, burning, racking, crucifying, etc., were nothing when compared to this diabolically invented punishment. We may naturally suppose that the cry of such a person would be, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this dead body? And how well does this apply to the case of the person to whom the apostle refers! A body - a whole mass of sin and corruption, was bound to his soul with chains which he could not break; and the mortal contagion, transfused through his whole nature, was pressing him down to the bitter pains of an eternal death. He now finds that the law can afford him no deliverance; and he despairs of help from any human being; but while he is emitting his last, or almost expiring groan, the redemption by Christ Jesus is proclaimed to him; and, if the apostle refers to his own case, Ananias unexpectedly accosts him with - Brother Saul! the Lord Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent me unto thee, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. He sees then an open door of hope, and he immediately, though but in the prospect of this deliverance, returns God thanks for the well-grounded hope which he has of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?--The apostle speaks of the "body" here with reference to "the law of sin" which he had said was "in his members," but merely as the instrument by which the sin of the heart finds vent in action, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites (see on Rom 6:6, and Rom 7:5); and he calls it "the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death (Rom 6:21, and Rom 7:5) into which it dragged him down. But the language is not that of a sinner newly awakened to the sight of his lost state; it is the cry of a living but agonized believer, weighed down under a burden which is not himself, but which he longs to shake off from his renewed self. Nor does the question imply ignorance of the way of relief at the time referred to. It was designed only to prepare the way for that outburst of thankfulness for the divinely provided remedy which immediately follows.”