Romans 7:17

‘So now it is no more I who do it, but sin which dwells in me.'

But why, says Paul, do I sometimes behave like this? What explanation can there be? His reply is that it is because what he does is not done by his true self, his inward man, his regenerate nature. It is rather done by ‘sin which dwells in him' (this in contrast with the indwelling of the Spirit - Romans 8:9). It is done as a result of a carnal disposition which is the home of sin, which is a part of his old self. Here then we have the first indication that Romans 7:15 are not to be seen as the whole of his experience. They are rather his experience when the fleshly side of him takes over. It is not he who is doing it but the sin which dwells in him. Thus he is leaving room for a part of his life when it is he who is in control, and not the flesh. At those times he ‘fulfils the Law' (Romans 8:4).

Indeed he sees this as so serious a situation that he repeats it again in Romans 7:20. But he is not hereby denying responsibility for the sin. He is simply saying that it is not done by his ‘new man' (the man that in intention he is now) but by the ‘old man' (the man whom he once was, who still lingers on, even though crucified with Christ).

Here we see the importance of God's method of making us right with Himself. Had we not been able to recognise that this sinful part of us has in fact been put to death on the cross so that it has already been punished, we would be in total despair. We would see our situation as hopeless. But as it is we can hate the things that we do while still retaining our confidence that God sees us as acceptable in Christ, because He knows that we only do them through weakness.

On the other hand, in the case of the unbeliever, much of what he does he revels in. He can even boast about his sins. But for the Christian his sins are a pain and a heartache. He hates them even while he does them. This is one evidence that demonstrates that he really is a Christian, even though ‘weak'.