A man ruled by ...I, me, and mine...43 times in this passage

 

The make-up of a natural man wants to do good but... sin rules him. In the make-up of a man without Christ he "wants to do good" but he can't. Man's choices are often intended to be right but man still does wrong. Why? In bondage to sin, struggling with the flesh, controlled by Indwelling sin. The choices and decisions of a man without Christ are swayed by the Adamic Nature.

The following passage in Romans 7:5 indicates the past life "before  Christ when Paul was under Law"...For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. This passage is not to be mixed up with the heart and life of a Christian who is victorious in Christ. Romans 6 is the Christian life and shows man how to get rid of the Adamic Nature. Romans 8 is the sanctified life after man gets rid of the Adamic Nature. Romans 7 is not the life of a child of God controlled by the Holy Spirit. Only the opposite is true. Notice the I, me, and mine mentioned 43 times in the following verses.

Romans 7: 7-21...Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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 main expression here? The enslaved will of fallen man. A perfect picture of a man controlled by the Adamic Nature...under sin. Sin controls his choices, actions, and decisions. I, me, and mine...the self centered man.