This body of death/This body of life
By Elizabeth Prata
For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23).
We all have a sin-nature. Every person born on the planet (except Jesus) has inherited the sin of their Federal Head, Adam. All humans are sinners, and therefore all people are worthy of death, according to God.
After our salvation, when we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus, we are no longer under the penalty of death. We have been transferred to the gift of eternal life. Jesus absorbed the wrath for all who would believe when He was on the cross, and more than that, HIS righteousness was imputed to us who would believe. So we no longer have the death penalty hanging over our heads. His death and resurrection cleared those who would believe back to zero on God’s books. In addition, we do not remain at zero, for we would naturally sink again. Being sinners, even forgiven sinners still sin. We have the plus of His righteousness, which launches us from zero to infinity and beyond. Thus when God looks at a believer, He sees the righteousness of His Son.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24).
It was Jesus who delivered us from this body of death.
I have read that in the ancient days, a penalty for a murderer was to strap the dead body of the person he had killed to him. As the dead body putrefied, the corruption would seep into the convict’s pores and soon he would begin to decay as well. The dead consumed the living person’s life. Perhaps this was what Paul had in mind when he cried out for deliverance from “This body of death” in Romans 7:24.
Every person alive today has one of two types of a body ‘strapped’ in him. The unsaved person has a body of death, he IS a body of death. The saved person has a body of Life. Every genuinely saved person possesses the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her. God resides IN us!
We have a body of life strapped on us: we have two persons of the Trinity with us at all times: the Spirit IN us (indwelling) and Jesus with us never forsaking us
the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. (John 14:17).
The Spirit is in a believer and the Lord is with us, never to leave or forsake us. Two Persons of the Trinity are with us and in us at all times.
Therefore,
- Knowing that we have been given deliverance from the body of death,
- and knowing that we have been given Jesus’ righteousness,
- and knowing that two persons of the Trinity are in and with us at every moment…
then…
Is what you’re doing right now honoring to Him? What you’re saying? What you’re watching? What you’re thinking? Just as the putrefaction of the dead body strapped to the murderer seeps in, so does the holiness of adhering to the statutes of Jesus. What pleases Him will seep into us. The Spirit holy thoughts and holy words and holy acts to expand our righteousness, further cleanse our sin nature, and wash our conscience.
It’s truly simple: sin corrupts … holiness cleanses.
