Paul
says (Romans 7:20) that ‘sin dwells in me’. Jesus says that bad thoughts are as
bad as bad actions. What does that mean for the understanding of what a person
must do to become a good person?
In
order for a person to become a good person, according to Romans, the person
must diligently practice mind over matter. Paul says “with my mind I am a slave
to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin” (7:25).
Inherently humans are sinners, and the tendency to commit sin is always
present, however, it in the responsibility of the issue to consistently fight
any manifestation of this tendency, even in the form of a thought. The idea is
that if sinful thoughts do emerge, it means the person has not given God full
agency over his mind, and is therefore not fully devoted to “the law of God in
[his] inmost self” (7:21).
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