Romans 7:15

I know not

(ου γινωσκω). "I do not recognize" in its true nature. My spiritual perceptions are dulled, blinded by sin (2 Corinthians 4:4). The dual life pictured here by Paul finds an echo in us all, the struggle after the highest in us ("what I really wish," ο θελω, to practise it steadily, πρασσω) and the slipping into doing (ποιω) "what I really hate" (ο μισω) and yet sometimes do. There is a deal of controversy as to whether Paul is describing his struggle with sin before conversion or after it. The words "sold under sin" in verse Romans 7:14 seem to turn the scale for the pre-conversion period. "It is the unregenerate man's experience, surviving at least in memory into regenerate days, and read with regenerate eyes" (Denney).