Charles Spurgeon Commentary Romans 7:20

"But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me." — Romans 7:20 (ASV)

But sin that dwelleth in me.

Oh! This accursed indwelling sin! Would that it were driven out.

We do not say this to excuse ourselves—God forbid—but to blame ourselves that we permit this sin to dwell within us. Yet we must rejoice in God that we are born again, and that this new "I"—the true "I"—will not yield to sin, but fights against it.

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

The true man – the newborn man – is struggling for what is right. The real "I," the immortal "ego," is still pressing forward, like a ship beating up against wind and tide, and striving to reach the harbor where it will find perfect rest. Oh, what struggles, what contentions, what strivings, there are within the men and women in whom the grace of God is working powerfully! Those who have little grace can take things easily and swim with the current; but where grace is strong, sin will fight for the mastery, though it must ultimately yield, for there can never be any true peace until it is subdued.