"It is no longer I who do it..."

Whenever I read through Romans 7 and contemplate indwelling sin, I always hesitate over verses 17 and 20. In fact, to call a spade a spade—I feel embarrassed by them. They seem to advocate a denial of responsibility for sin which, you may realize by now, I fight against vociferously. The verses read as follows:

17) So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

20) Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

As I was driving home from church today,* I confessed my sins again to God and felt as though the confusion of these verses obscured even my confession. “How am I to even think about this?” I asked. Clarity consumed the confusion all at once. Indwelling sin is “mine,” though it is no longer “me.” Paul’s attribution of his sinful acts to the "sin that dwells within me" is not a question of culpability but of congruity.

Romans 7, extracted from its context, conveys tension and incongruity. This divided man is wrestling against an enemy within himself, and he knows well the weakness of his own defenses. Sin remains and exerts a powerful influence over him, though he is being delivered from his “body of death.” It would be easy to walk away from this chapter wondering if the doctrines of sin and salvation were somehow inconsistent. Verses 17 and 20 help to make the distinction between my remaining sin and my new identity in Christ—bolstering both doctrines, along with those of us who fight to build our lives around them.

*Note: I drove myself to church today. Whereas most of my prohibitions have been instituted to deal with the pain, my driving restrictions were strictly based on fear. I faced that fear today and drove the 35min drive to and from church.