“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. — The wretched I confronts the rupture of self: θέλω (thelō, "I want to") and πράσσω (prassō, "I do") are split. The self wills the good but enacts evil; this is the existential condition of the person under law without Spirit. The internal division is radical: what the mind approves the body refuses. Paul's language captures the lived experience of moral impotence.
Church Fathers on Romans 7:15
“For that which I do, I know not.” What does the “I know not” mean?— I am ignorant. And when could this ever happen? For nobody ever sinned in ignorance. Do you see, that if we do not receive his words with the proper caution, and keep looking to the object of the Apostle, countless incongruities will follow? For if they sinned through ignorance, then they did not deserve to be punished. As then he said above, “for without the Law sin is dead,” not meaning that they did not…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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