Romans 7:13-20

Oh wicked men that we are….let the Love of God expressed in Jesus Christ change you precept by precept into the person you were created to be. There is no one righteous. no. not. one. If we hold God up in the cross of His salvation others will be drawn to His mercy and  love.

The problem is not the law; the problem is sin. Sin used the good law to produce evil, that is, death. But through the law, sin is shown for what it is, and its evil and tragic consequences are clearly revealed. Even though Paul was a Christian dedicated to serving God, he continued to fall short of God’s moral standards.

Being fleshly, sold over to sin, involves a conflict that mystifies Paul and other believers. Paul feels he does not understand himself. He finds himself defeated, not doing what he wants to do, and doing what he hates to do. The conflict indicates that there is battle between two identities in the believer. First there is something that acknowledges that the law … is good. Second there is something within, called sin, which produces evil. The problem is the flesh, the part of the believer in which there is nothing good. The will is the desire to do good. Yet the ability to perform is lacking.

²⁰ So Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: 

1 Kings 21:20

¹⁷ And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 

2 Kings 17:17

⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

Genesis 6:5

²¹ And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 

Genesis 8:21

¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 

Galatians 5:17

¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 

Romans 7:19

Romans 7:13-20

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.