Romans 7:19

19 I don't do the good that I want to do, but I do the evil that I don't want to do.

Romans 7:19 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 7:19

For the good that I would, I do not
The apostle here repeats what he had delivered in ( Romans 7:15 Romans 7:16 ) to strengthen and confirm this part of his experience; that though he had a will to that which was good, yet he wanted power, and had none of himself to perform; and therefore often did what he would not, and what he would he did not.

Romans 7:19 In-Context

17 But now I'm not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it's sin that lives in me.

18 I know that good doesn't live in me—that is, in my body. The desire to do good is inside of me, but I can't do it.

19 I don't do the good that I want to do, but I do the evil that I don't want to do.

20 But if I do the very thing that I don't want to do, then I'm not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it is sin that lives in me that is doing it.

21 So I find that, as a rule, when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me.