What is the meaning of Romans 7:19? For I do not do the good I want to do • Paul is speaking as a regenerate believer who truly “delights in the law of God in his inner being” (Romans 7:22). • His renewed heart longs to please the Lord, echoing David’s cry, “I delight to do Your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8). • The desire itself is God-given: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). • The statement is evidence that real salvation produces real yearning for righteousness. Instead • This single word marks the clash between desire and performance. • Paul recognizes a rival principle: “I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind” (Romans 7:23). • The clash is universal among believers: “For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). • The “instead” reminds us that the conflict is active, not hypothetical. I keep on doing the evil • The ongoing verb shows a repeated struggle, not an isolated lapse. • “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8); honest Christians admit continuing failure. • The path from temptation to action is mapped in James 1:14-15, where desire drags, conceives, and gives birth to sin. • Paul’s transparency encourages believers to bring hidden battles into the light. I do not want to do • The evil done is now hated by the doer—a sign of a changed nature (Romans 6:2). • New creation reality is still true: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17); the old self may scream, but it no longer defines identity. • The call is to “put off your former way of life” and “be renewed in the spirit of your minds” (Ephesians 4:22-23). • A believer’s will is aligned with God, even when actions lag behind. summary Romans 7:19 captures the believer’s heartfelt tension: a Spirit-born desire for good, a flesh-driven pull toward evil, and the frustrating gap between the two. Paul’s candor assures us that the struggle is normal, Scripture affirms its reality, and the next chapter promises victory: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Depend on the indwelling Christ, walk by the Spirit, and anticipate the day when the conflict will be forever resolved. |
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