Romans 7:15-20
“For I don’t know what I do. For what I want, that I don’t practice; but what I hate, that I do. But if I do that which I don’t want, I consent to the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it to do that which is good. For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. But if I do that which I don’t desire, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.”
The Apostle Paul, writing to believers in Rome in the mid-first century CE, is exploring the ongoing struggle within a person who desires to live righteously under God's law. This passage follows his discussion of the law's purpose and leads into the theme of liberation through the Spirit.
What does this passage reveal about the experience of internal conflict, even when one genuinely desires to do what is right?