Good Has No Permanent Dwelling Place in This Person
Thinking about Romans 7:18-20.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (Romans 7:18-20)
Staying under the Law would only bring frustration and failure.
Staying under the Law means sin continues to dwell in you - you remain the captive of sin.
Paul continues taking his readers down the road of what happens to those who reject the gospel of Christ to remain under the Law.
Good has no permanent dwelling in you.
Notice that Paul identifies “me” with “my flesh.” He doesn’t make “flesh” one thing and “me” another. The “two natures” theory isn’t found in Paul. – McGuiggan, Romans, 217
Using himself as the example, Paul says that good has no permanent dwelling place in those who try to cling to the Law.
[Paul’s] speaking of himself as one outside of Christ. He deeply regrets that in him (me) as one outside of Christ “good” has no permanent dwelling. - McGuiggan, Romans, 217
Outside of Christ (in the flesh) Paul cannot serve God acceptably for “the flesh” cannot come up with what the mind aims at. - McGuiggan, Romans, 217
Sin continues to dwell in those outside of Christ.
Sin still holds those captive who are outside of Christ. To those who thought they could live up to the demands of the Law (flawless, sinless living) they were deeply mistaken.
[Paul] is not professing that he is incapable of doing any good thing that he wills to do. The very willing to do good is in itself doing something very good. When he speaks of “the good” he has “the good” that the Law requires [flawlessness] in his mind. - McGuiggan, Romans, 218
Paul had already shown that “all have sinned” and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Having sinned, they had rightfully earned death (Romans 6:23).
They would receive no different than what they earned if they remained under the Law and rejected Christ.
Certainly all of us have felt the frustration expressed in these words of Paul. And while there is no hope outside of Christ of ever breaking free from sin, it is comforting to know that in Christ, and under this dispensation, there IS a means of deliverance from such a wretched state of affairs. This will be seen in chapter eight. – Wacaster, Studies in Romans, 269
Paul is picturing the helplessness of the sinner without Christ – without the regenerating and saving power of the gospel. – Whiteside, Commentary on Romans, 160
Paul is constantly driving people toward his theme - everything he writes by inspiration further develops the book's theme.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)