14. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not spiritual since sin rules me as if I were its slave.
15. I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate.
16. And if I do not want to do the hated things I do, that means I agree that the law is good.
17. But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them.
18. Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them.
19. I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do.
20. So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.
21. So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me.