Romans 7:20

20. “But if I do that which I do not wish, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Unscholarly people reason over this, founding a grave charge against Paul on the identity of “I,” which is utterly untrue, because “I” is not at all identical with itself, as it alternately represents carnality and spirituality, which instead of being identical are unlike as God and Satan, the one being the Son of God, the other that of the devil. Hence such an argument is radically untrue. Here the carnal “I,” representing old Adam, does all the mischief. Rom 7:20 repeats Rom 7:17, certifying his utter innocence in the matter, and laying all the blame on that indwelling sin represented in Rom 7:18-19 by carnal “I.” Hence Paul repeatedly affirms his irresponsibility, laying all the blame on the inbred sin which is causing all the trouble. It is a matter of fact that we are not condemned for the existence of inbred sin in our hearts nor its stirring within us. All this we can not prevent, but we are guilty if we yield to it and commit known and willing sin. This Paul repeatedly abnegates. Again, we become guilty if we do not walk in the light which God gives, and do our best by the grace of God to have this inbred sin destroyed.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:20. Οὐκ ἔτι) no longer,[76] namely, as I formerly used to perpetrate it [taken from κατεργάζομαι]. Some degree of serenity and deliverance gradually arises. I is emphatic, in antithesis to sin. He who says with emphasis, it is not I that will it [non volo ego], instead of the former, I would not [non volo (without ego) I do not will] (Rom 7:15) is already farther removed from sin.

[76] Not now, as in former times, when I was wholly dead in sin.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:20. From this follows, however, the very proposition to be proved, Rom_7:17, that it is not the moral self, but the sin-principle in man, that performs the evil.

οὐ θέλω] as in Rom_7:16.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:20 . The same conclusion as in Rom 7:17 . If the first ἐγὼ is right, it must go with οὐ θέλω : Paul distinguishes himself sharply, as a person whose inclination is violated by his actions, from the indwelling sin which is really responsible for them.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:20

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. The same conclusion from the same premises as in Rom_7:17. The things which I do, when contrary to the characteristic desires and purposes of my heart, are to be considered as the acts of a slave. They are indeed my own acts, but not being performed with the full and joyful purpose of the heart, are not to be regarded as a fair criterion of character.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 20. It is no more I] My will is against it; my reason and conscience condemn it. But sin that dwelleth in me-the principle of sin, which has possessed itself of all my carnal appetites and passions, and thus subjects my reason and domineers over my soul. Thus I am in perpetual contradiction to myself. Two principles are continually contending in me for the mastery: my reason, on which the light of God shines, to show what is evil; and my passions, in which the principle of sin works, to bring forth fruit unto death.

This strange self-contradictory propensity led some of the ancient philosophers to imagine that man has two souls, a good and a bad one; and it is on this principle that Xenophon, in his life of Cyrus, causes Araspes, a Persian nobleman, to account for some misconduct of his relative to Panthea, a beautiful female captive, whom Cyrus had entrusted to his care:-"O Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two souls; if I had but one soul, it could not at the same time pant after vice and virtue; wish and abhor the same thing. It is certain, therefore, that we have two souls; when the good soul rules, I undertake noble and virtuous actions; but when the bad soul predominates, I am constrained to do evil. All I can say at present is that I find my good soul, encouraged by thy presence, has got the better of my bad soul." See Spectator, vol. viii. No. 564. Thus, not only the ancients, but also many moderns, have trifled, and all will continue to do so who do not acknowledge the Scriptural account of the fall of man, and the lively comment upon that doctrine contained in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I find then a law,.... This is to be understood either of the corruption of nature, which he found by experience to be in him; and which, because of its force, power, and prevalence it sometimes had in him, he calls "a law"; it forcibly demanding compliance with its lusts; and is the same with what he calls "evil", and which the Jews so frequently style "the evil imagination", by which they mean the corruption of nature; and one of the seven names, and the first of them, by which it is called, they tell us (k), is, "evil"; the very name it goes by here, and which they say God calls it, Gen 6:5; and well may it be so called, since it is originally, naturally, and continually evil; it is evil in its nature and consequences; it is the source and spring of all evil:

that when I would do good; says the apostle, as soon as any good thought arises in me, any good resolution is entered into by me, or I am about to do anything that is good,

evil, the vitiosity of nature,

is present with me, and hinders me; it came into the world with me, and it has continued with me ever since; it cleaves close unto me, it lies very nigh me, and whenever there is any motion to that which is good, it starts up, which seemed to lie asleep before, and exerts itself, so that I cannot do the good I would. The Jews say (l), there are , "two hearts" in man, the good imagination, and the evil imagination. The apostle here speaks as of two wills in regenerate men, one to good, and another to evil: or this may be understood of the law of God, which he found agreed with his mind, willing that which is good, though sin lay so near to him; or he found that willing that which was good was the law of God, very agreeable to it; and that the law was on his side, favouring him, encouraging him to that which is good, though sin kept so close to him; to which sense agree the following words.

(k) T. Bab. Succa, fol. 52. 1. & Kiddushin, fol. 30. 2. (l) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 135. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Ver. 20. It is no more I] Every new man is two men. {See Trapp on "Rom 7:17"}

But sin that dwelleth in me] A scripture ill applied by that female Antinomian; who when her mistress charged her for stealing her linens and other things which she found in her chest or trunk, she denied that she stole them; and when she was asked how they came to be laid and locked up there? Did not you do this? No, said she, "it was not I, but sin that dwelleth in me." {See Trapp on "Rom 6:15"} {See Trapp on "Rom 7:17"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now if I do ... - This verse is also a repetition of what was said in Rom 7:16-17.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. No more I… sin—(See note on 17.) What proves that it is no more I, but an overmastering I of sin that dwelleth in me, is the fact that I am overborne to do that which in conscience I would not.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

sin Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 5:21").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. But if what I would not, etc. This experience sustains verse 17, and shows that sin had predominated over human nature and rules it. Sin controls, rather than good intentions. A man wills one thing and does another.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

20 = 17.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20.] The inference of ver. 17 restated, with the premiss of ver. 16 in the place of νυνὶ δέ:—but its meaning is now clearer and deeper than then; we know now that the ἐγώ which in the present verse does not the evil thing, is the better ἐγώ of the ἔσω ἄνθρωπος,—whereas the ἐμοί in which sin dwells and rules, though included in the complex self, is the lower ἐγώ, ἡ σάρξ μου. And so the way is now prepared for at once setting forth the conflict within us between these two.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. ὃ οὐ θέλω B C D E F G al., WH. RV.: ὃ οὐ θέλω ἔγω א A K L P &c., Tisch. WH. marg.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 20. “Now if I do that I would not, I myself, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”

A conclusion uniform with that before enunciated, Rom 7:16-17 : “I am not master of myself; a stranger has forced his way into my house and holds me captive.”

This is really the proof of the sold unto sin, Rom 7:14. Paul does not say so by way of excuse, but to describe a state of the profoundest misery. And every time he repeats this confession, it is as if he felt himself seized with a stronger conviction of its truth. The ἐγώ, I (after that I would not), is rejected by important authorities, and condemned by Meyer. But Tischendorf seems to me to be right in preserving it. It stands in a moral relation to the ἐγώ, I, which follows: “What I would not, I myself, it is not really I who do it.”

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.