Romans 7 · Verse 20

Romans 7:20

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Romans 7:20, King James Version

Romans 7:20 in other translations

BSBAnd if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
WEBBut if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
ASVBut if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
YLTAnd if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.
DARBYBut if what I do not will, this I practise, it is no longer I that do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
BBEBut if I do what I have no mind to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.
WebsterNow if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

What does Romans 7:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 7:19-21

19-21. For, &c.--The conflict here graphically described between a self that "desires" to do good and a self that in spite of this does evil, cannot be the struggles between conscience and passion in the unregenerate, because the description given of this "desire to do good" in Ro 7:22 is such as cannot be ascribed, with the least show of truth, to any but the renewed.

Read the full comment on Romans 7:19-21 →

Barnes' Notes
Verse 20. Now if I do, etc. This verse is also a repetition of what was said in Rom 7:16,17.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 20 It is no more I - My will is against it; my reason and conscience condemn it. But sin that dwelleth in me - the principle of sin, which has possessed itself of all my carnal appetites and passions, and thus subjects my reason and domineers over my soul. Thus I am in perpetual contradiction to myself. Two principles are continually contending in me for the mastery: my reason, on which the light of God shines, to show what is evil; and my passions, in which the principle of sin works, to bring forth fruit unto death. This strange self-contradictory propensity led some of the ancient philosophers to imagine that man has two souls, a good and a bad one; and it is on this principle that Xenophon, in his life of Cyrus, causes Araspes, a Persian nobleman, to account for some misconduct of his relative to Panthea, a beautiful female captive, whom Cyrus had entrusted to his care: - "O Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two souls; if I had but one soul, it could not at the same time pant after vice and virtue; wish and abhor the same thing. It is certain, therefore, that we have two souls; when the good soul rules, I undertake noble and virtuous actions; but when the bad soul predominates, I am constrained to do evil. All I can say at present is that I find my good soul, encouraged by thy presence, has got the better of my bad soul." See Spectator, vol. viii. No. 564. Thus, not only the ancients, but also many moderns, have trifled, and all will continue to do so who do not acknowledge the Scriptural account of the fall of man, and the lively comment upon that doctrine contained in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Romans 7:18-22

The more pure and holy the heart is, it will have the more quick feeling as to the sin that remains in it. The believer sees more of the beauty of holiness and the excellence of the law. His earnest desires to obey, increase as he grows in grace. But the whole good on which his will is fully bent, he does not do; sin ever springing up in him, through remaining corruption, he often does evil, though against the fixed…

Read the full comment on Romans 7:18-22 →

Romans 7:20 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

εἰeiIfG1487
δὲdenowG1161
ὃhowhatG3739
οὐounotG3756
θέλωthelōI do wantG2309
ἐγὼegōI myselfG1473
τοῦτοtoutothisG3778
ποιῶ,poiōdo,G4160
οὐκέτιouketino longerG3756
ἐγὼegōI myselfG1473
κατεργάζομαιkatergazomaiwho doG2716
αὐτὸautoitG846
ἀλλ᾽all᾽butG235
ἡhēthat whichG3588
οἰκοῦσαoikousais dwellingG3611
ἐνeninG1722
ἐμοὶemoime myselfG1473
ἁμαρτία.hamartiasin.G266

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Romans 7:20

  • Romans 7:17

    Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
it is no.
17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Romans 7:19

    For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

  • Romans 7:20

    Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

  • Romans 7:21

    I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Read all of Romans 7

Romans 7:20 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y si hago lo que no quiero, ya no lo obro yo, sino el pecado que mora en mí.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Or si ce que je ne veux pas, moi, – je le pratique, ce n’est plus moi qui l’accomplis, mais c’est le péché qui habite en moi.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn ich aber dieses, was ich nicht will, ausübe, so vollbringe nicht mehr ich dasselbe, sondern die in mir wohnende Sünde.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.