“Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. — The restatement of 7:17 reinforces the diagnosis: the true self (the "I" that θέλω, thelō, "wills the good") is not the active agent in transgression; sin's indwelling power is. This is Paul's answer to the question of moral responsibility: the self is accountable yet captive, responsible yet enslaved to a power exceeding its will.
Church Fathers on Romans 7:20
“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which 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 dwells in me.” Do you see, how he acquits the essence of the soul, as well as the essence of the flesh, from accusation, and removes it entirely to sinful actions? For if the soul wills not the evil, it is cleared: and if he does not work it himself, the body too is set free, and the whole may be charged upon the evil moral…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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