Romans 7:18
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
Truth to Learn
We can’t work, or fight, our way to victory as a Christian.
Behind the Words
The word translated, “I know” is eidō, meaning “to see with perception.” By implication it means “to know” or “to be aware of.” This word is used here in the perfect tense, which indicates past completed action with an ongoing effect, where the emphasis is on the ongoing effect. What Paul means is that he knows it and has known it for some time because he learned it sometime in the past. That is, it’s not new knowledge to him.
“Perform” is from the word katergadzomai, which we saw back in verse fifteen, meaning “to work fully, to finish, or to fully accomplish.”
Meaning Explained
Paul has just told us that it is the sin dwelling in him (that is, his sin nature, his predisposition to sin) that causes him to do things that he has determined not to do. He now amplifies that a little bit. He says that he is aware that there is nothing dwelling in his flesh (that is, dwelling in the non-spirit part of him) that is any good. You will recall that back in chapter 3 verses 9 and 10, Paul quoted part of Psalms 14:1-3 which says:
The fool has said in his heart, “there is no God!” They acted corruptly; they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. Jehovah looked down from heaven on the sons of men, to see if there were any who understood and sought God. All have gone aside, together they are filthy; there is none who does good, no, not one.
The reason that there is no one who does good is because of this sin nature that dwells in each and every one of us. It is what drives us to do that which we don’t want to do and it is what keeps us from doing what we want to do.
Paul now restates the fact that he is determined to do what is good but he can’t. He says, “For to will is present with me, but how to fully accomplish what is good I do not find.” The determination (will) to do good is there, but how to accomplish it just isn’t. As much as Paul is determined to do right, his sin nature won’t let him do it.
That’s why we have said before that an unsaved person has no choice but to sin. There is no free will in those who are unsaved. Those of us who are saved, however, have the Holy Spirit living in us and we do have free will. We can choose to obey God by turning our will over to the Holy Spirit and letting Him have control of our lives. So you see, the only way we can have the free will to obey God is to surrender that will up to Him. Only then can we even hope to obey. And because we have a sin nature, we then take it back and exert our own will, leading us to sin.
Application
As we have said before, the way to victory in the Christian life is through surrender. We don’t stand up and fight to get the victory, we simply give in. It’s totally against everything we have ever learned. We have to surrender to win the battle. Let us all pray that we will continually surrender our will to Him who has declared us righteous. After all, we’re not righteous because we earned it, but because He declared it!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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