What does Romans 7:17 mean when Paul says he does not allow what he does?
Romans 7:17 means Paul does not approve or permit what he does. What he does in the body and flesh, his new nature prompted by the Holy Spirit tells him is wrong. He knows better and does not want to do it, yet old Adam still slips in and gets the job done.
Les explains that Romans 7:17 is Paul admitting that what he does in the body and flesh, his new nature prompted by the Holy Spirit tells him is wrong. Paul says, "I know better. I don't want to do them." The things the Spirit and His new nature hate, old Adam is still slipping in and getting the job done. To control the failures of the body, that part of us must be strengthened and become uppermost in all our thoughts, acts, and deeds, and we must constantly keep the old Adamic nature in suppression. Les notes that the excuse "the devil made me do it" is not often the case; it is old Adam who makes us do it. Yet Satan is not entirely left out, because he works through the old nature, his playground, trying to get the old Adamic nature to control and exercise its desires. But He who is within you is greater than the powers of Satan, and that is our comfort.
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
More Questions
When a believer sins, who is really doing it, according to Romans 7:17?
In Romans 7:17, when a believer does wrong, the one doing it is not the believer's true self in Christ but the old Adam that dwells in him.