Principles and Conduct At Variance
Dean Alford. Romans 7:14-25 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.… It is one thing to give assent to good principles, it is quite another to put them in practice. A bright little Kansas boy was sent home from school for bad behaviour. A kind neighbour said to him, "Willie, I am sorry to hear such an account of you. I thought you had better principles." "Oh," he answered, "it wasn't the principles; my principles are all right, it was my conduct they sent me home for." For what I would, that do I not. —This θέλω is not the full determination of the will, the standing with the bow drawn and the arrow aimed; but rather the wish, the inclination of the will — the taking up the bow and pointing at the mark, but without power to draw it. (Dean Alford.) Parallel Verses KJV: For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. WEB: For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.