Well carefully read the passage...
First it is written to those who "know the law."
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for
I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Paul then defends the law against the thought that the law is evil because it wrought death.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
The law simply brought the knowledge of sin and when men chose to do wrong when they knew better it wrought death to them hence (Gen 2:17, Rom 6:23, Rom 7:11, Jam 4:17, 1Joh 3:4).
The law was ordained for good because it points the way we should go but when we willfully choose to violate righteousness it is sin that brings death.
The actual law clearly clearly taught right from wrong and thus due to it being so specific (thou shalt not murder etc.) it made sin becoming exceedingly sinful.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Yet even without the law of Moses death still reigned because all men have the light of conscience (Joh 1:9. Tit 2:11-12) and are thus without excuse. Therefore death still reigned before the law.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Whether one was a Jew and violated the letter or whether one was a Gentile and violated their conscience all are guilty before God. Hence...
Rom 2:14 For when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another
Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
The above is a parallel between the Jews and the Gentiles concluding ALL UNDER SIN. Whether one sinned with the law or one sinned without the law. Doing wrong when you know to do right is sin and the wages of it is death.
Just as Israel sold themselves into sin so does everyone else.
Isa 50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold,
for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Isa 52:3 For thus saith the LORD,
Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Thus the wretch of Romans 7 has been sold into carnality.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but
I am carnal, sold under sin.
What the wretch does he KNOWS NOT (he is in darkness).
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I
allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Allow - G1097 - ginōskō
A prolonged form of a primary verb; to “know” (absolutely), in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as shown at left, with others not thus clearly expressed): - allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge), perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand.
In other words many people "want to do what is right" but they "do not know how to do what is right" because THEY ARE IN DARKNESS and thus KNOW NOT. If they really knew what they were doing they would not do it. Living in sin is pure insanity because the result is total destruction, no-one who truly understands what sin is has anything to do with it.
Therefore the wretch does what he wouldn't do otherwise if he knew better but he admits that the righteousness that the law speaks of is good.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Thus when he sins it is not him (in a figurative sense) it is the sin that dwells in him.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me.
The "sin dwelling in me" IS NOT a reference to Original Sin. That doctrine was brought into the Church by Augustine in the 4th century. The "sin dwelling in me" is a clear reference to the "body of sin."
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
It is the "body of sin" that holds people in bondage. It must be destroyed by being crucified with Christ. Human beings become addicted to sin because the human brain is constructed in such a way that neuron pathways are formed in regards to the dopamine receptors and the firing off of neurotransmitters.
When someone engages in a pleasure activity whether it be sinful or not the reason they feel pleasure is because neurotransmitters are being fired off into the pleasure centers of the brain. When one engages in repeated acts of sin a "sensory reward system" is patterned in the brain and thus a strong desire to repeatedly perform the action becomes hardwired. Scientific studies into habits and addiction confirm this.
This is why sinning leads to bondage. No-one is born into bondage to sin. The bondage is acquired through long practiced habit and thus the nature by which one becomes a child of wrath is something that is a result of an ACT OF THE WILL in YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. This is why the Bible clearly states that "we sell ourselves into sin" rather than "we are born into sin." When David says he was "born into iniquity" he does not say "iniquity was born in him," rather he is referring to being born into a sinful world of iniquity.
The Bible clearly teaches that sin is a CHOICE as opposed to a DISEASE. This is one of the greatest misunderstandings in modern theology and it is the root of much error.
Paul goes on...
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
This wretch is ADDICTED TO SIN. Like any addict who wants to be free of their addiction they don't know how to quit. Look at many smokers and drunks who quit for a time but fall right back into it. This is why sin cannot be defeated in the flesh. The solution is in the spiritual realm not the carnal realm.
Paul just reiterates his points here...
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
There is something "in him" that makes him sin. It is the "body of sin" which is addicted. It's not easy for someone to break old habits is it? Do messy people become tidy people easily? No, it is extremely difficult.
This wretch delights in his knowledge of righteousness. He really does want to do the right thing. He is very conflicted.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
He is also very convicted. He is crying out for deliverance.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
This wretch IS NOT A CHRISTIAN. He is a sinner in bondage to the flesh who is under conviction who is SEEKING deliverance.
His "mind" serves the law of God but the "flesh" the law of sin. The flesh WILL ALWAYS serve the law of sin because the flesh is the raw passions and desires and it yearns gratification.
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Paul continues...
Due to what Paul has just written he says this...
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
One MUST be IN CHRIST.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
It is the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST that sets one free.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
The law cannot set one free because it is merely outward rules and regulations and simply yielding to rules does not effect the root cause of sin which is iniquity in the heart by which one yields to temptation and gratifies the flesh. Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh (a flesh body with the same passions and desires we have) and RULED OVER IT and thus condemned SIN IN THE FLESH. In other words Jesus gave us an example of not having sin rule over us. ie. ye shall rule over it (Gen 4:7).
True righteousness is fulfilled IN US when we WALK AFTER THE SPIRIT.
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
You see the solution to sin is to die with Christ in broken repentance so that one can submit to God in walking after the Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we are QUICKENED to life and that OUR MORTAL BODIES ARE QUICKENED.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
In other words when we renew our minds our brains become hardwired to God instead of being hardwired to sin. First the heart has to be purged of iniquity and made pure and then we walk after the Spirit growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
One of the greatest fallacies today is the Romans 7 wretch being constantly taught as the PRESENT walk of a Christian. Alongside the fallacies of 1Joh 1:8-10 being taught as Christian's being in a perpetual state of bondage to sin.
I can lead a horse to water but I cannot make it drink. The religious systems of the world have always had it wrong. Israel was apostate, the Pharisees were apostate, and what portrays itself as modern Christianity is completely apostate.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
A redeemed and born again Christian is not carnal and sold under sin!