<p>7:15&nbsp;<i>For why I do what I do,</i> <i>I do not understand</i>- Gk. to know, recognize, perceive, approve. The word has a wide range of meaning, so interpretation cannot be too forcefully pressed here, but the idea may be that Paul is sharing his impression that the sinful things he does, he performs almost unawares, almost unconsciously, and he may be alluding to the image of slavery- mindless obedience, actions performed as automatisms. This is not to justify nor minimize human sin, but to rather make the point that it is performed within the context of being a slave to sin; and by status, we have changed masters. Note that Paul concludes this section by saying that in his mind he serves as a slave the law of God, whilst with his flesh he is still the slave of sin (Rom. 7:25). Yet all the same, we are ultimately &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo;, with no condemnation possible, because we serve Him (Rom. 8:1).&nbsp;</p>
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</i><i>For I do not do what I intend</i>- AV &ldquo;would&rdquo;, which means &lsquo;to will&rsquo;, and occurs frequently in this section (Rom. 7:15,16,18,19,20,21). Paul is saying that what he wills to do, he simply lacks the will to do; he laments the weakness of his will in being obedient. The interlude about the election of Israel in Romans 9-11 practically exemplifies the theology of Romans 1-8; and this theme of Paul&rsquo;s weak will is commented upon in Rom. 9:16: &ldquo;So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy&rdquo;. It&rsquo;s not that salvation is only for he or she who somehow finds within themselves some steel will against sin. It is not of him that wills, but of God&rsquo;s grace. Were it a question of steel will, it would be a matter of works; but due to our change of status, it isn&rsquo;t a matter of steel, but rather of God&rsquo;s grace and our acceptance of it. In fact, Rom. 9:18 goes further, and states that it&rsquo;s not a question of&nbsp;<i>our</i>&nbsp;will but of God&rsquo;s will. Some He has mercy upon, as He wills; others He hardens, as He wills. And we in Christ are for sure those whom He has &lsquo;willed&rsquo; to have mercy upon. And as exemplified by the choice of unspiritual Jacob over nice guy, man of the world Esau- that Divine will in election simply doesn&rsquo;t depend upon works. Otherwise it wouldn&rsquo;t be grace; indeed, the whole concept of predestination and Divine calling regardless of works is raised by Paul to demonstrate the principle- that it&rsquo;s not by works or lack of them that we are acceptable to God.&nbsp;</p>
<p><i>But instead I do what I hate- </i>This contrasts with the triumphant passages in Romans 6 which speak of our change of status from being under sin to being under Christ. That contrast is surely intentional. We could say that Paul is now in chapter 7 talking of our practical experience, of how things are on the ground. They&rsquo;re bad; sin is strong and we are weak. But he emphasizes this in such a graphic manner in order to point up the wonder of the fact that all this notwithstanding, we are by&nbsp;<i>status</i>&nbsp;justified, declared right before God, have left the sphere of the flesh and are in that of the Spirit. The reality of present failure makes our changed status all the more wonderful. Perhaps another comfort from all this is that if we truly&nbsp;<i>hate</i>&nbsp;sin (cp. Rev. 2:6) rather than love every moment of it, then we are somehow on the right track and are in fact like Paul within the sphere of the Spirit in our hearts.</p>
<p>Paul's autobiographical passage in Romans 7, where he describes his sinfulness and the results of it, is actually expressed in terms of Adam's fall in Eden. So many phrases which he uses are lifted out of the LXX of Genesis 3. The evident examples are: &quot;I would never have known what it is to covet, if the Law had not said, You must not covet cp. Eve coveting the fruit... when the command came... sin cp. the serpent beguiled me... to kill me... sin resulted in death for me by making use of this good thing... who will rescue me now from the body of death?&quot;. Adam is presented to us as 'every man'; and so Paul applies this to himself, and yet through the allusion to 'every man' in Adam, he sets himself up also as our example.</p>