Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
These words from the apostle Paul to the Romans may be stark in their presentation. How could the man who wrote the half of the New Testament make this statement about himself? In Genesis 1 we read the proclamation of God that it was good. He had formed creation and the pinnacle of His creation was man. Adam walked in the presence of God, and it was good. How could things go from good to Paul speaking of his own wretchedness before God? We see a transition from peace to enmity. We a walk with God to a struggle to find God. We see God with man and God without man. What Paul knew was that man had been separated from God. He Knew the effects of the fall of Adam and how mankind had been from that time plunged into a state of sin. Even though Christ had come, and forgiveness was manifest in the blood of the savior, Paul still felt the effects of sin.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
We see the continual power of sin even in the life of a man such as Paul. So, the question that arises is this: how did man find himself in this position? How has sin pervaded every corner of man? That will be the beginning of our journey toward God’s remedy for us. The goal of this book is to show man his desperate need for salvation. It is to show his total inability to save himself or to commend himself to God. In light of this total inability, it would take sovereign grace to save. Romans chapters 1-5 are our guide to show us how God by His own will and power saves sinners. We will see the need for salvation and the means of salvation. Romans is by far the most thorough of all the scriptures answering the question Job asked in all those years ago.
Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?