John Calvin Commentary Romans 7:24

"Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?" — Romans 7:24 (ASV)

Miserable, etc. He closes his argument with a vehement exclamation, by which he teaches us that we are not only to struggle with our flesh, but also with continual groaning to bewail within ourselves and before God our unhappy condition. But he does not ask by whom he was to be delivered, as one in doubt, like unbelievers, who do not understand that there is but one real deliverer; rather, it is the voice of one panting and almost fainting, because he does not find immediate help, as he longs for. And he mentions the word rescue, to show that no ordinary exercise of divine power was necessary for his liberation.

By the body of death he means the whole mass of sin, or those components of which the whole man is composed; except that in him there remained only remnants, by whose captive bonds he was held. The pronoun τούτου this, which I apply, as Erasmus does, to the body, may also be appropriately referred to death, and in almost the same sense. For Paul meant to teach us that the eyes of God’s children are opened, so that through the law of God they wisely discern the corruption of their nature and the death which proceeds from it.

But the word body means the same as the external man and members; for Paul points out this as the origin of evil: that man has departed from the law of his creation and has thus become carnal and earthly. For though he still excels brute beasts, yet his true excellence has departed from him, and what remains in him is full of countless corruptions, so that his soul, having degenerated, may justly be said to have passed into a body. So God says by Moses,

No more shall my Spirit contend with man, for he is even flesh (Genesis 6:3).

Thus stripping man of his spiritual excellence, God compares him, by way of reproach, to the brute creation.

This passage is indeed remarkably suited for beating down all the glory of the flesh. For Paul teaches us that the most perfect, as long as they dwell in the flesh, are exposed to misery, because they are subject to death. Indeed, when they thoroughly examine themselves, they find in their own nature nothing but misery.

And further, so that they should not indulge their lethargy, Paul, by his own example, stimulates them to anxious groanings and urges them, as long as they sojourn on earth, to desire death as the only true remedy for their evils. This is the right purpose in desiring death.

Despair indeed often drives the profane to such a wish; but they desire death for misguided reasons, because they are weary of the present life and not because they loathe their iniquity.

But it must be added that, though the faithful aim at the true mark, they are not carried away by an unbridled desire in wishing for death. Instead, they submit themselves to the will of God, to whom it is fitting that we are subject in both life and death. Hence, they do not cry out with displeasure against God but humbly deposit their anxieties in His bosom. For they do not dwell so much on the thoughts of their misery as to be unmindful of the grace they have received; rather, remembering that grace, they blend their grief with joy, as we find in what follows.