Romans Chapter 7 Vs. 15

 

The Law and Sin

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. Rom 7:15

For that which... After showing in Rom. 7:7-14 that sin is more powerful than the law, Paul now shows that sin is more powerful than man who is a slave to sin (Rom. 7:15-25).

I allow not... I do not approve of my slavery to sin.

what I would,... What I wish to practice, I cannot, for I am an unwilling slave to sin.

The sense here is that Paul found himself doing things he did not approve of.

We see in verse 15, the struggle that all mankind faces. The struggle is truly between our flesh and spirit. Paul desires to have his spirit in control at all times. He says that sometimes his flesh wins out. It is a daily struggle for all of us. To live for Jesus the spirit has to overcome the flesh.

Gal. 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

At the start Paul confessed, I do not understand what I do (lit., “what I am producing I do not know”). He was like a little boy whose honest answer to why he did something wrong is, “I don’t know.” A person’s actions are at the dictate of someone or something besides himself that he really does not understand and cannot explain.