Romans 7:17 : So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. This verse furnishes conclusive evidence that Paul is not, in these verses, represent-ing the condition of the Christian, for it certainly can-not be said that sin dwells in the Christian. The Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian, and it is not possible that the Holy Spirit and sin inhabit the same dwelling place. True, sin slips in at times when the Christian is off guard, as a thief might slip into your dwelling place. He who dwells in a house has charge of the house. To say that sin dwells in a person is to say that sin has the control of him. When sin enters into a Christian, it enters as an intruder and not as a dweller. But Paul's language does not free the sinner from responsibility for his conduct. His language is a fig-ure of speech, often found in the Bible, in which one member of a sentence is negative in order to emphasize the other member. Here is an illustration: "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me" (John 12:44). We would say: "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me alone, but also on him that sent me." And so with Paul: "So now it is not I alone that do evil, but rather it is sin that dwells in me." His urge to follow the flesh was greater than his desire to do what his moral judgment dictated. Paul makes a distinction between his real self and the sin which dwelt in him. Had he held to the doc-trine that total depravity was an inherent part of everybody born into the world, he could not have made that distinction. If sin is a part of our nature, then no one could think of himself as distinct from sin. I dwell in house, but the house was not made with me in it. Paul locates the time when sin enters a person. "I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Romans 7:9). Sin enters a person when he first becomes responsible before God and violates his law, and then it dwells in him till he is redeemed from its bondage.