“That saved a wretch like me?”

Perhaps there is no hymn more well-known in our world than John Newton’s “Amazing Grace.” The timeless emphasis on the love and goodness of God is still sung in churches all over America today. It is also the hymn that introduced an interesting word to many of us: wretch. The dictionary defines a wretch as “a despicable or contemptible person” and is the root of the word “Wretched.” The interesting thing is how often and where this word, which seems to be pretty well known in the Church’s vocabulary, can actually be seen in Scripture.
The Greek for wretched, transliterated as “talaipóros,” only appears twice in the entire New Testament, and in two completely opposite contexts. The first is the famous cry of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans. “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). The second, however, is far less well known and with an entirely different tone behind it. This time the speaker is not Paul, but Christ, and the audience isn’t the church at Rome, but the church in Laodicea. Christ makes the statement that “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—” (Revelation 3:17). Like anything else, understanding the context brings new understanding to the passage.
Last week we had a chance to look at Laodicea in a geographical sense, but today we need to look at it in terms of its society. Laodicea was known for three things: money, eye salve and wool. They were so rich that they needed no help from anyone, even declining help from Rome when an earthquake struck and they needed to rebuild. They would even stamp “made out of our own resources” on new buildings to show they were a self-made city. This great wealth largely came because of Phrygian powder, a crushed stone which allegedly did wonders for the eyes, and from wool. Laodicea was known for beautiful, glossy, black wool which became the envy of people all throughout the Roman world and brought great wealth and success to the city.
With these things in mind, Christ’s words begin to take on new meaning. The Laodiceans were a proud, self-made people who could take care of themselves. They needed no help from anyone and they weren’t afraid to say so. They trusted in themselves and their ability. It was for this reason that Christ had to hand down such harsh words. They trusted in their money, their wool and their eye salve. It was these exact things Christ zeroed in on, along with throwing in that word “wretched”. They trusted their money, He called them poor. They trusted their eye salve, He called them blind. They trusted their wool, He called them naked. The issue with the Laodiceans was they trusted in themselves and what they could produce, and that brings us back to the other use by the Apostle Paul.
The Laodiceans trusted in themselves and Christ called them wretched. Paul called Himself wretched and trusted in Christ. Newton’s famous lyrics truly encompass this idea, that it isn’t our wealth, our medicine, our clothes, our works, our efforts or anything other aspect that saves us, apart from His amazing grace. It is only when we realize that, and where we are apart from Christ, that we can finally be rich, be clothed and learn to see.