Romans 7:19

19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

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 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.

19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.