What does Paul mean when he refers to himself as a wretched man?

Explanation:

After reflecting on the fact that Paul can detect that the law is good but he is unable to keep it, he summarizes his reflection by stating, What a wretched man I am! Likely he is expressing the tension of living between the times of Christ’s first and second coming. Paul knows he is redeemed in Christ, yet he remains in the flesh until either he dies or Christ returns. It is not uncommon for New Testament authors to reflect on the tension of living between Christ’s first and second coming. For example, Paul himself reflects on this tension elsewhere, including Romans 8:23, when he writes that we groan as we await our redemption. Likewise, in his letter to the Philippians he writes that our citizenship is in heaven, and we wait for our Saviour who will transform us (Philippians 3:20–21). Finally, the author of Hebrews explains that here we have no lasting city, for we seek the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14). Each of these instances highlights the tension of believers who have experienced the grace of God and yet groan as we wait for his second coming. And Paul expresses this experience with the phrase What a wretched man that I am!³

Counterargument:

While it might be common for New Testament authors to reflect on the tension of living between Christ’s first and second coming, this argument has done nothing to show that that is relevant to what Paul writes in Romans 7:24. For Paul does not write in Romans 7:24 that he waits for Christ’s return, or that he seeks a heavenly home. Rather, he refers to himself as wretched. The adjective wretched has to do with being miserable and distressed.⁴ The sentiment of being miserable and distressed does not quite fit with groaning as one patiently waits for adoption or seeking a heavenly city. Rather, it signals something about Paul’s tormented inner state.

Response to counterargument:

In fact, we have an extrabiblical source that uses the term for wretched to denote a person who is pulled in two directions. In particular, the first-century Stoic philosopher Epictetus refers to himself as a wretched man when he reflects on the fact that he has a physical body like the brutes along with reason and intellect like the gods. The tension that Epictetus experiences for being composed of body and mind, brute and god, makes him characterize himself as a wretched man.⁵ In the same way, when Paul reflects on the fact that he can detect that the law is good and yet he fails to uphold it (Romans 7:18), he deduces that he is in a wretched state. For it is a state that experiences the tension of being redeemed in Christ and yet remaining in the flesh until Christ returns.

Explanation:

By referring to himself as a wretched man, Paul displays deep spiritual insight. That is Paul demonstrates that he recognizes the glory of God and how he falls short of that glory. Now, it is a conceptual truth that people who are not regenerated by the Holy Spirit do not perceive that they fall short of God’s glory. Further, new converts to Christianity have a self-confidence that diminishes their capacity to notice how much they need a deliverer.⁶ On the other hand, as Christians mature and advance spiritually, they recognize more fully their sinfulness and the extent to which God surpasses them in glory and holiness.⁷ Thus, it is Paul, the mature Christian, who cries out, What a wretched man that I am!

Counterargument:

There is a problem with this argument. In particular, it is not clear that only regenerate Christians can detect the tension of existence in the flesh.⁸ Ancient philosophers such as Plato noticed the difficulties of living in the flesh and taught his pupils to avoid the miseries of the flesh by avoiding bodily desires as much as possible. Others, such as Epictetus, struggled with the tension of having a fleshly body and rational mind, and although he was not a Christian, like Paul he referred to himself as a wretched man.⁹ So it is not the case that only regenerate Christians detect the difficulties of living a human existence in the flesh.

Response to counterargument:

While it may be that unregenerate Christians can detect that there is some misery in their existence, the argument here is that Paul detects not only that there is misery in his existence but that his misery is related to God’s holiness. That is, Paul calls himself a wretched man, not because he detects the difficulties of this life but because he detects the goodness of God’s law, which displays God’s holiness, while being unable to uphold that law. In other words, Paul is a wretched man because although he is a regenerate Christian who can detect the goodness of God’s law, he remains in the flesh until Christ’s return, so he continues to struggle with sin.

The only weakness of this view is that it is somewhat strange for Paul, the regenerate Christian, to refer to himself as wretched. For while Paul might have been wretched before his conversion, since the Holy Spirit now regenerates him, he might think of himself as sinful, but not wretched.

Explanation:

By referring to himself as a wretched man Paul has chosen very strong language. In fact, the language is so strong that it signals he is likely reflecting on his pre-conversion state. For while it is true that Paul experiences frustration even as a Christian (Romans 8:23), that he calls himself wretched goes beyond general frustration.¹⁰ Instead, it signifies how Paul characterizes his former life as a non-Christian. That is, before Paul became a Christian he was a wretched man.

Counterargument:

The problem here is that this argument overlooks the nuance of the term wretched. For while it can be used to denote a strong notion of despair, or condemnation, it can also be used to denote a sort of tension (see interpretation 3, argument 1, response to counterargument).¹¹ That is, we have evidence of a first-century Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, using the term to refer to the tension he experienced between his body and mind. By referring to himself as wretched in this context, Epictetus does not condemn himself but expresses the frustrations of living in tension. We know from the immediate context that Paul also has the frustrations of living in tension in mind, for he has in mind his ability to recognize the goodness of the law but his inability to uphold it (Romans 7:18). Thus, Paul may not be using the term wretched in the strong sense of condemnation, but in the sense of experiencing tension.

Explanation:

When Paul refers to himself as a wretched man it is important to notice the context. In particular, Paul follows this statement by asking, Who will deliver me from this body of death? That Paul needs deliverance from a body of death implies that he has his pre-conversion state in mind. We can detect this because Paul writes in Romans 7:13 that through the commandment sin produced death in him. This reference to death is likely the death of one who is dead in his sins, so it is the death of a pre-conversion Paul. Now in Romans 7:24 Paul references death again, likely referring to the same death that is the consequence of sin, and he asks, Who will rescue me from this death? Since the death is the pre-conversion death and related to the fact that Paul is a wretched man, when he refers to himself as a wretched man he must have his pre-conversion state in mind.¹²

Counterargument:

When Paul asks who will deliver him from this body of death, he likely does not have in mind the death to which sin leads. Rather, he most likely has in mind deliverance from this current state of existence at the second coming of Christ. In other words, Paul is looking forward to the completion of the good work that was already started in him (Philippians 1:6), that is, his full redemption in Christ when he is finally raised with a new resurrection body.¹³ Thus, when Paul refers to himself as a wretched man and asked who can deliver him from his body of death, he indicates that, although he is redeemed, he has not yet experienced the completed redemption that will take place at Christ’s second coming.

The weakness of this view is that Paul characterizes himself in the present throughout this section. That is, Paul characterizes himself as a sinner who can detect the goodness of God’s law but cannot uphold it. If he was thinking about his pre-conversion state, we expect he would make this clear by referring to himself in the past tense.

Explanation:

When Paul writes, What a wretched man I am! he is pronouncing the universal cry of despair that he knows all spiritually discerning people experience. That is, Paul is using himself as a character to proclaim a truth that he knows is true, not only for himself but for all who are spiritually sensitive. We can detect that Paul includes the statement, What a wretched man that I am! as a universal human cry of despair, because he would have been aware that Jews and Gentiles perceived the same struggles of existence. For we know that the Qumran Jews, and in particular, the writer of Ezra , acknowledge humanity’s inability to stand before God and do his will. Further, Paul has already made clear that there are Gentiles who naturally do what the law of God requires, and that their consciences sometimes accuse them, implying that some Gentiles know they fall short of God’s will (Romans 2:14–15). Thus, Paul is aware that his own experience reflects the frustration of falling short of God’s will, and that Jews and Gentiles might also share this experience. This leads Paul to announce the wretchedness that spiritually discerning people recognize, through the voice of his own character.¹⁴

Counterargument:

The notion that Paul is being theatrical by using himself as a character to relate to an audience of Jews, Gentiles, and Christians is farfetched.¹⁵ For Paul seems to clearly portray his own personal feelings and experience as shown by the fact that Romans 7:24 is a summary statement related to a host of personal claims that run from Romans 7:13–23. Paul has been explaining his personal struggle with sin, instigated by the good law of God, and how sin causes him to do the things he hates. All of this is enough to conclude that Paul is a wretched man, so it is unlikely that he uses himself as a character to illustrate the condition of others.

Response to counterargument:

The argument here is not that Paul is simply being theatrical in order to relate to his audience. Rather, the argument is that he consciously captures both his own experience and that of Jews, Gentiles, and other Christians when he refers to himself as a wretched man.¹⁶ In other words, Paul knows that his own realization that he both recognizes and falls short of God’s will is a universal experience for anyone who is spiritually sensitive. And he wants to draw attention to the solution to this problem of being a wretched man, which is God’s provision in Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25).

The one weakness of this view is the theological implication that Jews and Gentiles are able to perceive that they fall short of God’s will, even though they do not have the Holy Spirit. We can lighten this weakness by suggesting that spiritually sensitive people do not recognize that they fall short of God’s will in the same way that a Spirit-filled Christian might, but they still have the vague idea that they fall short of the Creator in some important sense. Certainly even pagan philosophers like Plato could recognize that there was a realm of perfection, but that he was somewhat trapped in his earthly desires.