Chapter 18.--How the Apostle Said that He Did the Evil that He Would Not.
Or by chance do we fear what follows, "For that which I do I know not, for what I will I do not, but what I hate that I do," [2573] lest perhaps from these words some one should suspect that the apostle is consenting to the evil works of the concupiscence of the flesh? But we must consider what he adds: "But if I do that which I will not, I consent to the law that it is good." For he says that he rather consents to the law than to the concupiscence of the flesh. For this he calls by the name of sin. Therefore he said that he acted and laboured not with the desire of consenting and fulfilling, but from the impulse of lusting itself. Hence, then, he says, "I consent to the law that it is good." I consent because I do not will what it does not will. Afterwards he says, "Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me." [2574] What does he mean by "now then," but, now at length, under the grace which has delivered the delight of my will from the consent of lust? For, "it is not I that do it," cannot be better understood than that he does not consent to set forth his members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. For if he lusts and consents and acts, how can he be said not to do the thing himself, even although he may grieve that he does it, and deeply groan at being overcome?
[2573] Rom. vii. 15.
[2574] Rom. vii. 17.
Chapter 19.--What It is to Accomplish What is Good.
And now does not what follows most plainly show whence he spoke? "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing"? [2575] For if he had not explained what he said by the addition of "that is, in my flesh," it might, perchance, be otherwise understood, when he said, "in me." And therefore he repeats and urges the same thing in another form: "For to will is present with me, but to perform that which is good is not." [2576] For this is to perform that which is good, that a man should not even lust. For the good is incomplete when one lusts, even although a man does not consent to the evil of lust. "For the good that I would," says he, "I do not; but the evil that I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." [2577] This he repeated impressively, and as it were to stir up the most slothful from slumber: "I find then that the law," said he, "is for me wishing to do good, since evil is present with me." [2578] The law, then, is for one who would do good, but evil is present from lust, though he does not consent to this who says, "It is no longer I that do it."
[2575] Rom. vii. 18.
[2576] Rom. vii. 18.
[2577] Rom. vii. 20.
[2578] Rom. vii. 21.
Chapter 20.--In Me, that Is, in My Flesh.
And he declares both more plainly in what follows: "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." [2579] But in that he said, "bringing me into captivity," he can feel emotion without consenting to it. Whence, because of those three things, two, to wit, of which we have already argued, in that he says, "But I am carnal," and "Sold under sin," and this third, "Bringing me into captivity in the law of sin, which is in my members," the apostle seems to be describing a man who is still living under the law, and is not yet under grace. But as I have expounded the former two sayings in respect of the still corruptible flesh, so also this latter may be understood as if he had said, "bringing me into captivity," in the flesh, not in the mind; in emotion, not in consent; and therefore "bringing me into captivity," because even in the flesh there is not an alien nature, but our own. As, therefore, he himself expounded what he had said, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing," so also now out of the exposition of that we ought to learn the meaning of this passage, as if he had said, "Bringing me into captivity," that is, "my flesh," "to the law of sin, which is in my members."
[2579] Rom. vii. 21, 22.