15 I really don’t understand what I’m doing. I do the things I don’t want to do, and what I hate doing, that’s what I do! 16 But if I’m saying that I do what I don’t want to, this shows that I admit the law is good and right. 17 So it’s no longer me who does this, but sin living in me— 18 for I know that there’s nothing good in me as far as my sinful human nature is concerned. Even though I want to do good, I’m just not able to do it. 19 The good I want to do, I don’t do; while the evil I don’t want to do, that’s what I end up doing! 20 However, if I’m doing what I don’t want to, then it’s no longer me doing it, but sin living in me.
21 This is the principle I’ve discovered: if I want to do what’s good, evil is always there too. 22 My inner self is delighted with God’s law, 23 but I see a different law at work within me that is at war with the law my mind has decided to follow, making me a prisoner of the law of sin that is within me. 24 I’m totally miserable! Who will rescue me from this body that’s causing my death?7:24. Literally, "body of death." Thank God—for he does this through Jesus Christ our Lord! 25 Here’s the situation: while I myself choose with my mind to obey God’s law, my human nature obeys the law of sin.