Rom. 7:15-18 - We Have This Dilemma

15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

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- - - It's My Fault! - - -

Verses 15-25 seemingly are a scream of frustration - almost like raw emotion thrown into a sea of reasoned logic. Paul has reasoned us through the following:

God has revealed Himself; we have rejected Him. The Jews have had all the advantages; but they, too, have rejected His message. Abraham’s faith, not His works earned approbation; he is our example. The Law is Holy and Righteous. The Law cannot save us, but it can show us where we fall short.

Can we see or feel the frustration? The Law is Holy and Righteous, but it does not, cannot, save us. If a Holy and Righteous Law is useless, what hope have we?

This section drives home with emotion what logic might not do. We cry, “The Law has no power to save us! There is no hope! We are dead! What are we to do?”

Praise the Lord! We are not left hanging there.

V. 15 - “for I am not practicing what I would like to do” - The human condition. God has told us what He expects. We have the knowledge. We seem to lack is the ability to act correctly on that information. So, we stand back, baffled. “Why? Why can’t I do what’s right?”

V. 16 - “I agree with the Law” - I do what is sin. I know it is sin because the Law warned me. I know I shouldn’t do it, so I am forced to admit the Law is right, the Law is good and righteous. Before the Law operated in my life, I was doing the same things I do now, but was woefully ignorant and it didn’t bother me too much. Now, I am no longer ignorant. It makes little difference in my behavior. Now, I am wracked with guilt and shame because I know what I do is sin.

V. 17 - “sin which dwells in me” - It is clear that sin’s power over me is greater than the Law’s ability to warn me away. The Law, though spiritual, has no spiritual power to deliver me from sin.
The Law is a traffic cop. “Sir, do you know how fast you were traveling?”
“Uh. About 70.” (My answer, if I am to be truthful, which I might as well do so since he has caught me on radar.)
“Do you know the speed limit here is 55 mph?”
“Uh. Yes.”
“I’m going to have to write you a ticket for speeding.”

It is not the policeman's fault I was driving over the limit. It is not the law's fault I was over the limit. It is mine alone.

V. 18 - “nothing good dwells in me” - The problem is not external. It is not the holy and righteous law handed down by God, it is my sin nature within me.

“the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. “ - it is the ‘willing’ not the ‘will’ to do the righteous thing. The willing is more a want than driving force. I kinda want to do what is right, but not enough to make a commitment to do. I think in the second “Star Wars” movie (Episode 5) where Luke Skywalker is in training. He is chided for failing a task, and he whines, “I’m trying.” The master Jedi, Yoda, tells him, “There is no try! There is only Do, or Not Do!”
That is our cry, our lament. “We wanta do what’s right. We just cant do it.” Our old nature does not have the power to do it, any more than the Law can empower us.

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