sin

Remember this is the apostle, Paul, writing these words...

Roman 7 

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. 

22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 

23 But there is another power within me 

that is at war with my mind. 

This power makes me a slave to the sin 

that is still within me. 

24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! 

Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 

25 Thank God! 

The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

So you see how it is: 

In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, 

but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.