He is the potter; we are the clay.

祂是陶匠，我们是泥土。

Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24–25

谁能救我脱离这取死的身体呢？感谢上帝！靠着我们的主耶稣基督就能脱离了。-罗马书7章24-25节

At his death, the great artist Michelangelo left many unfinished projects. But four of his sculptures were never meant to be completed. The Bearded Slave, the Atlas Slave, the Awakening Slave, and the Young Slave, though they appear unfinished, are just as Michelangelo intended them to be. The artist wanted to show what it might feel like to be forever enslaved.

艺术巨擘米开朗基罗逝世后留下了多件未完成的作品，但其中有四座雕像，却是蓄意为之，那是《浓髯的奴隶》、《奴隶阿塔拉斯》、《觉醒的奴隶》和《年轻的奴隶》。这四座看似未完成的奴隶雕像，其实是米开朗基罗刻意呈现的意境，突显出永无止境的奴役束缚。

Rather than sculpting figures in chains, Michelangelo made figures stuck in the very marble out of which they are carved. Bodies emerge from the stone, but not completely. Muscles flex, but the figures are never able to free themselves.

米开朗基罗并不以锁炼来表达禁锢捆绑的形象，而是直接从大理石块中刻凿出雕像的身躯，并且让这些身躯深陷石块之中。这几座雕像呈现出极力挣扎，却永远不得释放的形态。

My empathy with the slave sculptures is immediate. Their plight is not unlike my struggle with sin. I am unable to free myself: like the sculptures I am stuck, “a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me” (Rom 7:23). No matter how hard I try, I cannot change myself. But thanks be to God, you and I will not remain unfinished works. We won’t be complete until heaven, but in the meantime as we welcome the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, He changes us. God promises to finish the good work He has begun in us (Phil. 1:6).

我能深切感受这四座奴隶雕像的困境，宛如看到自己在罪中挣扎。纵然奋力挣脱，却仍被罪恶捆绑，并“把我掳去，叫我附从那肢体中犯罪的律”（罗马书7章23节），无论我再怎么努力，都无法改变自己。但感谢上帝，你我都不会像那未完成的作品一样受困。虽然我们必须等到回天家的那一日，才能在上帝手中成为完全，但现在若我们愿意让圣灵在生命中动工，祂就会改变我们。因为上帝应许在我们心里动了善工，必成全这工（腓立比书1章6节） 。

God, thank You that You make us new creatures through the work of Your Son Jesus Christ, freeing us from our slavery to sin. 

上帝，感谢祢，让我们藉着耶稣基督的救赎，

脱离罪的辖制，成为新造的人。

Romans 7:14-25New International Version (NIV)

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[b] a slave to the law of sin.

整理：于姊妹