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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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DID YOU KNOW THIS?! THIS BODY OF DEATH
This exclamation sounds like a very graphic way of speaking, but the truth is that Paul was referring to a legal situation. Though Paul's readers were aware of that to which he was referring, the modern reader is not. Just as we, in the American legal system, deal with the crime of murder in terms of first, second and third degree, the Roman legal system described several levels of guilt for this offense. The above verse was referring to one of the most severe punishments of Roman law. The dead body was literally chained to the murderer -- face to face, hand to hand, toe to toe. The condemned man was sentenced to go through the remainder of his life chained to this decaying corpse. Keep in mind the acceleration of the decomposing process in that warm climate; then try to imagine how it would be with this body in front of you while eating or in attempting to talk to your wife and children. Imagine the horror as each day the stench becomes increasingly offensive, bringing alienation from family and friends, depriving you of tenderness or imtimacy with another human being. As the decaying corpse becomes rigid -- stiff -- when rigor mortis sets in, sitting down becomes virtually impossible. Sleep escapes you as death permeates every waking moment. Each day the stench grows worse and becomes increasingly more offensive, both to you and everyone around you. Therefore, you are progressively more isolated from family and friends. There is no escape from the reminder of your crime. The murderer could not avoid breathing in the stench of this decaying body which was his constant companion. It is not difficult to understand that many times the condemned man would lose his mind if he did not first die of inhaled putrefaction. What a picture of sin! Using his knowledge of Roman legal practice to draw a vivid comparison, Paul had been talking about Christians who sin. Though making a desperate attempt to live a sinless life, Paul became increasingly aware of the fact that the harder he tried, the more frustrating his failure became.
Paul felt his sin was as much a burden strapped to him as the decaying body chained to a murderer had been. Oh, how we can identify with Paul's struggle! Forgiven, chosen to follow Jesus, we want to be obedient; but no matter how hard we try, there is still sin in our lives. Then Paul identifies our only hope,
Trying harder never solves the problem of sin in our lives. If there is to be a change, it will have to be the result of what Jesus Christ does in us. There is a conflict raging in the life of every Christian. The law of God does battle with the law of sin. But Paul reminds us in whom our hope lies even when we fail.
In reflecting upon our own lives, one can't help but see that struggle of the law of God versus the law of sin. Surely you have felt the frustration of the bondage of the murderer as you tried again and again to eliminate the power of sin in your life. However, Paul reminds us that as we continue presenting our bodies to God as sacrifices that live, Jesus increasingly becomes the solution to the battle we have lost so often. Remember:
No more stench! No more dead body to lug around! There is freedom -- total freedom in Christ! |
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