I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. Romans 7:15 NLT 

All Christians identify with this passage on a psychological level. No believer is completely without sin. We are all caught in the tension. Thus the “I” has an experiential aspect that we all face in daily life. Paul illustrates this aspect by using insights from his own experience. To grasp Paul’s expressions, we need to recall how we feel when we fall into doing what we know is wrong in spite of what we would like to be. (see v24.)  

Remember, the apostle is not describing the entirety of a Christian’s life. Even if that life is generally victorious and Christians have the peace and joy of their faith, at other times they still identify with Isaiah, who declared “Woe is me!…For I am a man of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5.RSV), and with Peter, who in the midst of a crisis fell at Jesus’ feet, exclaiming, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8.RSV). 

The tension between desire and action is identifiable to any honest Christian. V15 obviously has in mind somebody whose heart is right towards God. The person knows what is right and has a deep desire to do so, but commits actions that conflict with that desire. Paul is saying that sometimes he doesn’t understand his own actions. The problem begins in v14 when he explained his carnal, creaturely weakness. 

It is absolutely imperative when reading these verses to realise that Paul is not talking about the better times in Christian living. He is not saying that he never does right, but that he isn’t as free from error as he would like to be. Nor is he saying that he does evil habitually or never does good. The problem is that sometimes he doesn’t ‘do good.’(I appreciate his honesty!) By using the slavery metaphor, he expresses the thought that he still finds sin to be a powerful force and that he hasn’t managed to resist it at every moment. 

Paul’s incites fit in quite well with those of Jesus, who tells us that God forgives repentant sinners 70 times seven, and with John, who states that God’s ideal is that we don’t sin at all, but if we do, as Christians we can confess and God will “forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John.1:9.RSV).