Romans 7:19

19 For I don't do the good I want; instead, the evil that I don't want is what I 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 it is no longer "the real me" doing it, but the sin housed inside me.

18 For I know that there is nothing good housed inside me - that is, inside my old nature. I can want what is good, but I can't do it!

19 For I don't do the good I want; instead, the evil that I don't want is what I do!

20 But if I am doing what "the real me" doesn't want, it is no longer "the real me" doing it but the sin housed inside me.

21 So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse "torah," that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me!