¹⁷ For ^(A)the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^(B)to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(A)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(B)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(C)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(D)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (E)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(F)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(G)I delight in the law of God, ^(H)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(I)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(J)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.