There are two, and only two possibilities upon which the interpretation of Romans 7 14-25 can rest. They are;
1. Paul is describing a regenerate man and his "struggles with remaining sin".
2. Paul is describing an unregenerate man trying to establish his standing before God by the Law.

If 1. then the Bible is full of contradictions on Sanctification and the Christian life.
If 2. then the doctrine of Sanctification takes on an entirely different meaning than the popular "indwelling sin" view.
This is really the crux of the entire issue. 0nce you decide what kind of man Paul is describing the ensuing 'interpretation' will almost be automatic.

   It is important that we determine whether Paul is describing a regenerate or an unregenerate man. This is crucial because if this passage teaches anything it clearly teaches that the man Paul is describing ~cannot stop sinning,~  no matter how hard he tries. So the question is; Is this section a description of a regenerate man who struggles with his "remaining corruption" because he cannot stop sinning? Or is it a description of an unregenerate man who is seeking to find his salvation under the pressure of the law, but discovers that he cannot because he cannot stop sinning? This is the "fork" in the road that will determine how we "interpret" this passage which will in turn determine our doctrine of Sanctification and the Christian life. If we try to proceed without answering this question we will unavoidably end up in confusion and error in our view of Sanctification and the Christian life. And the stakes are high ladies and gentlemen! The difference between the two views is not a matter of "error" either one of which can be held by all Christians; like baptism or eschatology. No! The difference is the difference between a false gospel and the truth!

  The Gospel is the good news that God delivers His people from their sins by removing their old heart and giving them a new one. The basis for this is the Atonement. The result is that God's people repent of sin and walk in holiness.
Now... either walking in holiness means not sinning or the Bible teaches that saved people can walk in holiness while they continue to sin at one and the same time. One, and only one of these is the correct Gospel. The other one is a false gospel and folks you can take this to the bank.. No one is ever saved under a false gospel.
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  PROOF THAT ROMANS 7 IS DESCRIBING ONE WHO CANNOT STOP SINNING:

Mt 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

  I have not yet found any passage in the entire Word of God that teaches that a person can walk in holiness and sin at one and the same time.  Not even Romans 7! The [false] doctrine of simultaneous sin and holiness is foreign to Scripture. To the contrary, Scripture plainly teaches that a man is doing either one or the other; he is either walking in holiness or he is sinning.  Here it is;

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

  This is clear either/or language and can in no way be understood as walking in the spirit and fulfilling the lusts of the flesh at one and the same time. It's interesting to note that the words "shall not fulfil" in verse 16 employ the use of the double negative. Greek legitimately uses a double negative in order to convey emphasis. You might loosely paraphrase the verse as "By walking in the spirit there is no way you will fulfil the lust of the flesh."  To "fulfil the lust of the flesh" is another way of describing the activity of sinning so this passage is clearly presenting to us an either/or quality of Sanctification and the Christian life. A Christian is either walking in the spirit or he is sinning.

  If we now take the concept of either/or in Galatians and come back over to Romans 7 what do we find? Simple; you can search high and low from verse  7 onwards and you will not find one syllable that speaks anything of "walking in the spirit". The entire passage  from verse 7 on is a description of one who is a slave to sin, a captive to the law of sin and is fulfilling the lusts of his flesh.
Look at Paul's description;

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

This is clearly saying that he cannot stop sinning no matter how hard he tries.

23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

  The description is of one who is "sold under sin", is in  "captivity to the law of sin" and who does nothing but that which is evil. In other words, every time he tries to do that which is good he ends up doing that which is evil.. every single time. Clearly this is a description of a man who is walking in the flesh and cannot stop sinning no matter how hard he tries. Otherwise airplanes are made of spaghetti, the Pope is a Martian and words have lost all meaning.

 There is simply no sane view of this passage other than that Paul is describing one who is not able to stop sinning. And like Galatians 5, Romans 7 presents to us an "either/or" situation. If Paul is describing the Christian life in Romans 7 then we are faced with a view of the new testament doctrine of Sanctification that lands us in impossible contradictions.

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                                  THE ~MEMBERS~ CONTRADICTION

 With regard to the sin which "dwells in" the man Paul is describing, the question arises; exactly where is this sin "dwelling"? Paul tells us plainly...

23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

  Paul says that the sin is located "in his members". And in vs 18 he says that there is no good thing in his flesh. So.. putting these together we see plainly that Paul is teaching that sin dwells in his flesh while he delights in God's law in his "inner man".  Voila! We now have the basis of the doctrine of "indwelling sin". The Christian life is one of "struggle against remaining corruption" or as we read "the flesh lusting against the spirit". Problem  solved.  Good.. Now we can all go home.. except for one minor detail;

Romans 6

In Romans 6 Paul instructs believers to...

12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

For example, Paul says in Romans 7;
19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

  Here Paul plainly says he doesn't do anything that is 'good'. Every time he tries he ends up sinning, or doing evil. This can only mean that he never is able to do anything good.. at all! In other words, he cannot stop sinning! But how could Paul write this in Roman 7 and then go on to write such things as; 

1Th 2:10  Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:

  Here Paul calls upon GOD Himself as a witness to how he was living. Was Paul calling on GOD to be a witness to his doing of evil according to what he wrote in Romans 7? How could Paul write;
19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

in Romans 7 and then call upon both men and GOD to witness how he was holy, just and blameless in 1Th 2:10?

Another;
Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

  Paul was a hypocrite folks! Here he is exhorting people to walk worthy...
"I'm sorry but I can't do that Paul! You see, the good that I would [walk worthy] I do not do; but that which I hate, i.e. failing to walk worthy, that do I .. just like you said in Romans 7!"

 You could almost pick them out at random. Can you see the absurdity of trying to fit the rest of the New Testament's account of the Christian life under the umbrella of Romans 7 and the false doctrine of "indwelling sin"? More...

2Th 3:7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;

How is that possible if all Paul could do was the evil which he hated?

1Co 4:16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
Php 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

  Wait-a-minit everybody! Here Paul, who taught us in Romans 7 that he could not stop sinning, and every time he tried to do good he did evil.. here he is telling people to -follow him-!??? Is he telling them to follow him in sin? That's
where this view of sanctification takes us!

 Could you imagine a family man who hangs out in the bar getting drunk, cheats on his wife, hardly ever comes home and is constantly in trouble with the law..
and is unable to stop..  can you imagine such a man trying to instruct his children to... FOLLOW HIM!??

  If Romans 7 is a description of what it is to walk in the spirit then the rest of the Bible's teaching on the Christian life makes no sense at all. If I were looking for a place in the Bible where I could justify sin folks Romans 7 is by far it. I certainly wouldn't go to Galatians 5 where Paul plainly says that they which do these things will perish. More;

Php 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Put that in context of Romans 7 folks and see where you end up.

No kidding Paul? You mean, you want us to ~do~ what we ~learn~ about what you yourself were ~doing~ over there in Romans 7? You want us to keep on wishing we could do something.. anything good only to have it result in our doing evil!? I mean that's exactly what you were teaching us over there is it not?

Ludicrous!

Try the rest of Php 4...

2  I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

Sorry Paul we tried that but it don't work. You see, every time we attempt to do what you say, which is most certainly a ~good~ thing, every time we try it it comes out evil.

3  And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
5  Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Er-r-r... Sorry Paul but I CAN'T! Those are all good things but like you said, every time I try to do gooooood.....  well... the law of sin in my members brings me into captivity to the evil that is in me and I end up sinning. See Paul... everything I do... everything, is all 'tainted with sin'.

Now try this experiment folks. "Lucky dip" the epistles in the New Testament. That is, just turn to any passage in the epistles randomly without looking. Start reading anyplace and see how far you can go before you come to a verse that wreaks havoc with the view of "indwelling sin" that says a believer cannot stop sinning and everything he does is 'tainted with sin'. Try it. Here I'll give you a start; Have a look at Hebrews 13 starting at verse 1...

1 Let brotherly love continue.

Oh! Now that's certainly a fine God-honoring exhortation is it not? But now, if I take Romans 7 and try to apply this to my actual living how in the world could I possibly let brotherly love continue? Every time I try to love my brother, I find a law that when I would do good [let brotherly love continue] evil is present with me. This is because I am carnal and sold under sin, and I am in captivity to the law of sin [and death by the way] and that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. The result is the good that I would.. [let brotherly love continue].. I do not: but the evil which I would not, and which I absolutely hate, that I do.

I don't think I need to labor the point any more folks. Anybody who believes a Christian is still wicked and cannot stop sinning is in denial of Christianity.

2Pet 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Are you kidding Peter? You want me to be Blameless, and that by my own giving of diligence? Sorry but I can't. I'm sold under sin, in captivity to the law of sin and can't do ANYTHING good. Every time I try to 'give diligence' I end up sinning.

1Tim 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

There is only one explanation that makes Biblical sense. Romans 7 is a description of someone who is unsaved, still under the law and is seeking to find acceptance with God by the law. Result; he cannot escape sin. A Christian is one who has been delivered from such captivity to the law, has a new heart, walks in newness of life and does not sin. Which are you?

1John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

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