Romans 7:20

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.

Romans 7:20 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 7:20

Now if I do that I would not
The same conclusion is formed here, as in ( Romans 7:17 ) , not with any view to excuse himself from blame in sinning, but to trace the lusts of his heart, and the sins of his life, to the source and fountain of them, the corruption of his nature; and to ascribe them to the proper cause of them, which was not the law of God, nor the new man, but sin that dwelt in him.

Romans 7:20 In-Context

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!

22 For in my inner self I completely agree with God's Torah;