Romans 7:16-23
16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
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.
NKJV
I see what Paul has said because it is the same for me. I realize that in my flesh nothing good dwells. However I also see the Jesus has set me free from the sin that dewlls in my flesh. Jesus has not made my flesh sinless.
However, I see some on this forum that can not see the sin that dwells in their hearts and claim to no longer have any sins of the flesh.
For me, my spirit is perfect "in Christ" and "in Him" I no longer have sins of the flesh to worry about. They are all covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. --- But for some, they can not seem to trust in the shed blood for their righteousness; they trust in their earned righteousness that they think they have by works to save them.
I just explained all of that in another thread.
This that I am saying now is not that explanation I gave, but what you are believing makes Paul's words contradict themselves in places. You just do not realize it.
What I did explain in that other thread is that that very statement ("
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.") is true even of the man who begins as perfect but then turns to ignoring God. (Even as with Adam and Eve.)
All it takes to make that so is for a man to ignore God and seek to do good based upon his own level of knowledge and wisdom.
Even for a perfect man who suddenly chooses to ignore God, Jeremiah 10:23 is true.
Fulness of humility would see that. Fulness of humility would never have a man seeking to be like God in that manner.
Genesis 3:22 "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever..."
The question is, 'Are you humble enough to learn this? Or, will you cling to the attitude of Adam (thinking you can be like God someday with a new body) so that it prevents you from seeing?
Will you continue to blame it all on your body rather than on your attitude?
Or will you accept that it will always be true that only one is good and that one is God and all that is good comes from him?
James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.'
Even Jesus rejected being called good and he was perfect: Luke 18:19 "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God."
Do you get that the point is that there can be no good apart from God for he is the standard for what is good and bad and not you yourself?
If you do then you finally understand why there is no good in you or of you and never will be and you are beginning to think like Paul.
Even Jesus rejected seeing himself as the standard for what is good.