Romans 7:18

For I know, &c. This verse intensifies the statement just made. "Sin dwells in him" to such a degree that "no good thing dwells in him:" the intruder has occupied the whole dwelling, and every partof it is infected:by vitiating the affections and will, sin has spoilt all. Notice that the emphasis is on "good;" "no goodthing:" q. d., "nothing that dwells -in me" is unspoiled, however good originally and in itself. For instance, affections, right and wholesome in themselves, are spoiled by the absence of right affections towards God."

It is possible to explain the Gr. words somewhat differently, though in a way which alters the sense hardly, if at all: "For I know that it is not a goodthing that dwells in me, [but that sindoes.]" There is a languor however about the form of such an assertion, quite unlike the context, which insists upon a terrible reality of evil.

in me(that is, in my flesh)] See below on Romans 8:7-8. "The flesh," practically, is the man as unregenerate, and then (after grace) the Alter Egoof the still-abiding impulses and tendencies of evil. Here St Paul is careful not to say that in his whole condition then present there was no good thing dwelling; for the Divine Spirit (Romans 8:9) and His influences "dwelt in him." And yet he calls "the flesh" still his Ego;because he is contrasting his condition as a whole with the absolute and holy Law. See note on Romans 7:14, ("I am carnal,") where is explained the apparent inconsistency of the Ego being sometimes distinguished from, sometimes identified with, what is evil.

is present with me Is within my reach. Meyer takes this to refer to the unregenerate man; and such is his view of this passage throughout. But see Galatians 5:17, and Philippians 2:13. In this context, the will is represented as uniformlybiassed against sin and for holiness; this, surely, cannot be the unregenerate will. Logically, no doubt, the will of the believingsoul ought always to conquer evil, because faith calls in Divine power. But then just here comes in the mystery stated in Galatians 5:17, and which is a permanent factof Christian experience.

I find not The will is, on the whole, really sanctified; but its exercise is impeded. The counter-influences of "the flesh "bewilderit in the struggle. Its weapons, so to speak, are not always drawn.

Another reading, but not so well attested, is, "To will is present with me, but to perform that which is good, is not so."