¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(A)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

¹⁷ For ^(A)the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^(B)to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

² For ^(A)we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^(B)he is a perfect man, ^(C)able also to bridle his whole body.

Straining Toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already ^(A)obtained this or ^(B)am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: ^(C)forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for ^(D)the prize of the upward ^(E)call of God in Christ Jesus.

²⁰ Surely ^(A)there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

⁷ But ^(A)if we walk in the light, ^(B)as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and ^(C)the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ^8 (D)If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and ^(E)the truth is not in us.

Marks of the True Christian

^9 (A)Let love be genuine. ^(B)Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

^19 (A)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, ^(B)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.