But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
- KJV Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
- BSB And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
- NKJV Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
- NLT But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Again Paul attributes his sinful deeds to the sin dwelling within rather than to his renewed self. He affirms the abiding presence and power of indwelling sin.
Overview
Paul restates his earlier conclusion to drive home the diagnosis: indwelling sin, not his truest self, is the agent of these failures. This careful distinction acknowledges sin's reality without excusing it. It also frames the struggle as one between the renewed person and remaining corruption.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Rom 7:17So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 7:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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