24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
These words are a sad and sorrowful complaint of the present and too great prevalency of indwelling sin and unsubdued corruption, and in them observe,
1. The person complaining, St. Paul.
2. The matter of the complaint, not of affliction, but of sin; not of death, but of a body of sin and death, which he carried about with him.
3. The manner of the complaint, ’tis with vehemence and affection, it is vox anhelantis, the voice of one that pants and breaths after deliverance; not of one that doubted, much less desponded of a deliverer and a deliverance.
As if the apostle had said, “Oh how am I tired and wearied with continual conflicts and strivings with indwelling sin? How do the remains of unsubdued sin, and (as yet) unmortified corruption affect and afflict me? who will deliver me? and when shall deliverance be enjoyed by me?”
Learn hence, That there are sad remains of indwelling sin, and unsubdued corruption, in the very best and holiest of God’s children and servants in this life, which they sadly complain of, sensibly groan under, daily watch against, continually conflict with, and shall, in God’s time, be fully and finally delivered from.