Struggling with Sin

¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.

¹⁷ They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire.^[a] They consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the Lord’s anger.

²⁵ (No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel.

²⁰ “So, my enemy, you have found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah.

“Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight.

¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t.

⁸ Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power^[a] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

²⁸ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²² But I say, if you are even angry with someone,^[a] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,^[b] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,^[c] you are in danger of the fires of hell.^[d]