Daily EncouragementSample

We don’t have the space here to discuss whether the “wretched man” is unregenerate, regenerate, or somewhere in between! Volumes have been written on the subject. Perhaps W. H. Griffiths Thomas, although begging the question, shows true wisdom when he writes:

The one point of the passage is that it describes a man who is trying to be good and holy by his own efforts and is beaten back every time by the power of indwelling sin. This is the experience of any man who tries the experiment, whether he be regenerate or unregenerate. The experiences here described are certainly not those of the Christian life as it ought to be, and as it may be.”

Whenever the quest for the holy life, the life which pleases God, gives vent to this cry “what a wretched man I am!” - deliverance is to be found “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The light which shines in Romans chapter 8 and illuminates the darkness of chapter 7 is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). “The Spirit of Christ” in us is the hope of present victory, as it is the hope of future glory (Rom. 8:9; Col. 1:27).