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 [Rom. 7:18].

Paul learned two things in this struggle, and they are something that many of us believers need to learn. “In me (that old nature we have been talking about) dwells no good thing.” Have you learned that? Have you found there is no good in you? Oh, how many of us Christians feel that we in the flesh can do something that will please God! Many believers who never find out otherwise become as busy as termites and are having about the same effect in many of our churches. They are busy as bees, but they aren’t making any honey! They get on committees, they are chairmen of boards, they try to run the church, and they think they are pleasing God. Although they are busy, they have no vital connection with the person of Christ. His life is not being lived through them. They are attempting to do it in their own strength by the flesh. They haven’t learned what Paul learned: “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”
Let me make it personal. Anything that Vernon McGee does in the flesh, God hates. God won’t have it; God can’t use it. When it is of the flesh, it is no good. Have you learned that? That is a great lesson. The Lord Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh …” (John 3:6) (and that is all it will ever be), but “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin …” (1 John 3:9). My, how wonderful that is! We are given a new nature, and that new nature will not commit sin. I assure you that the new nature won’t commit sin. When I sin, it is the old nature. The new nature won’t do it; the new nature just hates sin. That new nature won’t let me sleep at night; it says, “Look, you are wrong. You have to make it right!”
Paul found out something else that is very important for us to learn: “for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” He found there is no good in the old nature and there is no power in the new nature. The new nature wants to serve God, but the carnal man is at enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (see Rom. 8:7). But the new nature has no power.
I remember when I started out, oh, I was going to live for God! That’s when I fell on my face, and I have never fallen harder than I did then. I thought I could do it myself. But I found there was no power in the new nature. And that is the reason that an evangelist can always get response in a meeting. I’m afraid ninety percent of the decisions that are made in our churches today have been made by Christians who have been living in defeat in their Christian lives. What they are really saying is, “I want to live for God. I want to do better.” Often an evangelist in a meeting says, “All of you that want to live for God, put up your hand. All of you today that want to come closer to God, put up your hand. Those of you who want to commit your life to God, come forward.” The minute an evangelist says that, he’s got me. That is what I want to do. That new nature of mine says, “I sure would like to live for God.” But there is no power in it. That is what multitudes of believers fail to recognize. There have been folk who have been coming forward for years, and that’s all they have been doing—just coming forward! They never make any progress. Oh, how they need to understand this truth!


McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42, pp. 131–132). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

7:17 no longer I who do it. The Gr. adverb for “no longer” signifies a complete and permanent change. Paul’s new inner self (see note on 6:6), the new “I,” no longer approved of the sin that was still residing in his flesh, like his old self did (cf. v. 22; Gal. 2:20), but rather, strongly disapproved. Many have misconstrued Paul’s comments as abdicating personal responsibility for his sin by embracing a form of Greek dualism (which would later spawn Gnosticism; see Introduction to 1 John). Dualism taught that the body is evil and the spirit is good, so its adherents sinned with impunity by claiming they were not responsible; their sin was entirely the product of their physical bodies, while their spirits remained untouched and unsullied. But the apostle has already acknowledged personal guilt for his sin (v. 14; cf. 1 John 1:10). sin that dwells in me. His sin does not flow out of his new redeemed innermost self (“I”), but from his unredeemed humanness, his flesh “in me” (Gal. 5:17).
7:18 in me … nothing good dwells. The flesh serves as a base camp from which sin operates in the Christian’s life. It is not sinful inherently (see note 6:6), but because of its fallenness, it is still subject to sin and is thoroughly contaminated. my flesh. The part of the believer’s present being that remains unredeemed (see notes on 6:6, 12; 7:5).
7:20 no longer I who do it, but sin. See note on v. 17.


MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1706). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.