Good News #335: Through Jesus’ Grace and Forgiveness, I Will Never Remain Wretched and Unclean; In Him, I Am Made a New Creation!
In reading the book of Romans, we must understand that Romans 7 is a condition not meant for the believer… not meant for the born-again Christian.
Romans 7 is the condition of someone under the law, which Paul used to be. Remember that he was a well-respected pharisee under the tutelage of Gamaliel, the high-ranking Pharisee who is part of the Sanhedrin.
Paul was so steeped in the old covenant of the law… he knew the law… and in fact, he was a defender of the law that he went about persecuting the Christians because he thought he was doing God a favor… until Jesus met him on the road to Damascus.
In Romans 7, Paul writes about the condition of being under the law… where the good we try to do we do not do, yet the ones we don’t want to do we do it.
He then summarizes the condition of being under the law in one word — WRETCHED… but then he said that he is delivered from wretchedness… from the body of death… through CHRIST JESUS.
Romans 8 then opens up by saying that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
This means that the condition of wretchedness is not a condition of a true Christian, one who truly believes in Jesus… In fact, Paul wrote about being new creations as well in the book of Corinthians (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Wretchedness is part of the old that died… born again believers are new creations…
The gospel is this — Jesus doesn’t make you wretched… nor does He leave you wretched.
Everyone who comes to Jesus and believes in Him and turns their lives over to Him for Him to be their Lord and Saviour does not remain the same…
If you were wretched before Jesus, you wouldn’t be when Jesus comes to your life.
Jesus makes all things new… and Jesus never makes anything bad.
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O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24-25
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
