¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰ for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, ^(A)if our heart does not condemn us, ^(B)we have confidence before God; ²² and ^(C)whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ^(D)do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his commandment, ^(E)that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and ^(F)love one another, ^(G)just as he has commanded us. ^24 (H)Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,^[a] and God^[b] in him. And ^(I)by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(A)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (B)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(C)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(D)I delight in the law of God, ^(E)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(F)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(G)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.