How can the apostle Paul call himself a "wretched man" -- overcome by sin; yet also see himself as a new creation, claiming that he's really not "controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit?" Which is it, Paul?
Doesn't he seem to be forgetting his own God-given goodness, his new and noble nature, when he calls himself "wretched?"
John Lynch, co-author of True Faced and Bo's Cafe, has a fresh and more helpful way of looking at "wretchedness:"
“Wretched”: Miserable, because of the pain in my regenerate heart of wanting to do what’s right but overcome with my [natural] inability to pull it off. Only the regenerate mind can grieve over unrighteousness.
This kind of wretchedness doesn't dismiss the radically-pure nature God has given us:
Rather, it means, “Wretched through the exertion of hard labor.” In other words, "I’m so tired of trying to make this work!”
It's the wretchedness of a man who has exhausted himself by trying to live a super-natural life with grossly inadequate, depleted natural reserves: a man trying to live apart from his new heart and the Spirit's work there.