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Struggling with Sin
Romans 7:13–25 honestly describes a deep struggle with sin. The passage says God’s law is good, yet sin works through what is good and leaves a person unable to carry out the good they desire.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
In Romans 7:13–25, the passage explains that what is good did not become death. Instead, sin is shown for what it is by producing death through what is good. The speaker then describes an inner conflict between delighting in God’s law and experiencing sin’s power.
Romans 7:13–25Main takeaway
This passage teaches that God’s law is good, yet a person may feel a painful inner conflict with sin and need deliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Sin shown for what it isThe passage opens with a question: did something good become death? The answer is no. The law is not blamed.
Explanation
The passage opens with a question: did something good become death? The answer is no. The law is not blamed. Instead, sin is shown to be sin because it produces death through what is good. Through the commandment, sin is exposed as exceedingly sinful.
02The law is spiritual, yet the struggle is realThe passage says the law is spiritual, which shows its good character. Yet the speaker is described as fleshly and unable to understand these actions.
Explanation
The passage says the law is spiritual, which shows its good character. Yet the speaker is described as fleshly and unable to understand these actions. The speaker does not do what is desired, and does what is hated. Even that struggle shows agreement that the law itself is good.
03Desire for good, but no power to carry it outThe passage repeats the problem carefully. Sin dwells within, and in the flesh no good thing dwells.
Explanation
The passage repeats the problem carefully. Sin dwells within, and in the flesh no good thing dwells. The desire to do good is present, but the doing is missing. The good desired is left undone, while the evil rejected is still practised.
04A war within, and a cry for deliveranceThere is delight in God’s law in the inward person, yet another law is at work in the members, fighting against the mind and bringing captivity to sin.
Explanation
There is delight in God’s law in the inward person, yet another law is at work in the members, fighting against the mind and bringing captivity to sin. This leads to a cry of misery and a question about deliverance. The answer is thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01According to verse 13, what does this passage say the commandment reveals about sin?
Look for the repeated word "sin" and the statement that through the commandment it becomes "exceedingly sinful".
02How does the speaker describe the difference between desire and action in verses 15 and 19?
Notice the contrast between wanting to do good and actually doing what is hated or called evil.
03What two things are placed side by side in verse 25?
Read the final sentence closely and identify what is served with the mind and what is served with the flesh.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Romans 7:13–25
13Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.
14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
15For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.
16But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
17So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
18For 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 doing that which is good.
19For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.
20But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
21I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
22For I delight in God’s law after the inward person,
23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
25I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.