Section 6
and how he could get the horse. Then the mis sionary told him, "This is covetousness, and covetousness is sinful." In Romans 7 Paul also uses covetousness as an illustration. How dif ficult for us to control covetousness! The more we try not to be covetous, the more covetous we are. The Apostle Paul was trying to be right eous, holy, and perfect. To some extent at least, he was successful. He kept himself from stealing, but he could not keep himself from covetous ness. In fact, he learned that it was impossible for him to control his covetousness. Therefore, he cried out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (7:24).
"THIS DEATH"
What did Paul mean by "this death"? He meant the death that, in the form of covetous ness, was constantly killing him. In like manner, something within us is killing us every minute of the day. If we are loose or careless, we shall not realize this. But if we try to be upright, holy, spiritual, and perfect, we shall find that instead of being perfect, we are constantly being killed by death. To experience death, there is no need for us to wait until we are old and about to die