Romans 7:23

I see The true Self contemplates, as it were, the perverting element, the Alter Ego, the flesh. Such conscious contemplation surely befits the idea of the regenerate state rather than that of the state of nature.

another law See on Romans 3:27. The word "law" is used here with the elasticity of reference pointed out there. It means here a force making itself felt consistently, and so resulting in a rule of(evil) procedureso far as it acts. It is called more explicitly "the law of sin," just below.

in my members See on Romans 6:13.

warring against The Gr. word implies not only a battle but a campaign. The conflict is a lastingone in this life. See it described from the other side, 1 Corinthians 9:27.

the law of my mind i.e., practically, the law of God, "with which my mind delights," (Romans 7:22,) and which in that respect it makes its own. The "mind" is here the "inner man" of Romans 7:22: so too in Romans 7:25. The word "mind" sometimes denotes specially the reason, as distinguished e.g. from spiritual intuition (1 Corinthians 14:14-15). Sometimes (Colossians 2:18), apparently, it denotes the rational powers in general as in the unregenerate state; and again, those powers as regenerate (Romans 12:2). In Ephesians 4:23 it seems to denote the wholeinner man, and thus includes the "spirit." So here.

bringing me into captivity The word indicates captivity in war. The Gr. is a present participle, and thus need not imply a successful effort; it cannot imply a completed one. The aimof the "campaign" is described. And no doubt St Paul means to admit a partialsuccess; he feels, in the slightest sin, however it may be (in the world's estimate) involuntary or inadvertent, a victory of sin and a "capture" of the better self. See note on Romans 7:14 ("sold under sin"). See 2 Corinthians 10:5 for the same metaphor on the other side of the contest.