15 I do not understand the things I do. I do not do the good things I want to do. And I do the bad things I hate to do.
16 And if I do not want to do the bad things I do, then that means that I agree that the law is good.
17 But I am not really the one who is doing these bad things. It is sin living in me that does these things.
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 that I want to do. I do the bad things that 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 those things. It is sin living in me that does those bad things.
21 So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me.