War Against the Law of the Mind

Struggling“So then, the Law is holy, and the com­mand­ment is holy and right­eous and good. There­fore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effect­ing my death through that which is good, so that through the com­mand­ment sin would become utterly sin­ful. For we know that the Law is spir­i­tual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not under­stand; for I am not prac­tic­ing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, con­fess­ing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that noth­ing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the will­ing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I prac­tice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the prin­ci­ple that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joy­fully con­cur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a dif­fer­ent law in the mem­bers of my body, wag­ing war against the law of my mind and mak­ing me a pris­oner of the law of sin which is in my mem­bers. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serv­ing the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.“
The Apos­tle Paul (Rom 7:12–25)