What Does Romans 7:21 Mean in the King James?
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Greek verb describes both the will to do good and evil as “present with me,” so neither presence cancels the other.
THE MEANING
Your desire to do good is real, and evil can still be near you. The verse names this coexistence as a pattern in your experience without making evil’s presence erase your desire.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that sincerely wanting good means every opposing pull has already vanished, or that its presence makes your desire counterfeit.
THE ROOT
παράκειται
parakeitai
GROWS FROM
κεῖμαι (keimai), with παρά (para, beside)
κεῖμαι (keimai) means to lie or be laid; παρά (para) adds the sense of beside, so the word can mean to lie beside or be close at hand.
Here “present” carries the concrete sense of lying alongside. The same verb describes the will to do good as present in Romans 7:18, so the language places both the good will and evil close at hand without making either one the whole person.
ALSO GROWS
keimai: To lie, be laid, or occupy a position.
κεῖμαι
This is the core image beneath “present”: something has a position; the word does not define the person it is near.
parakeimai: To lie beside; to be near or present.
παράκειμαι
This is the lemma behind the verse’s word “present,” giving evil a sense of nearness.
anakeimai: To recline or lie at a table.
ἀνάκειμαι
This related compound also describes posture or position, preserving the root’s concrete sense of where something lies.
THE PATTERN
A genuine desire for good can coexist with an opposing pull close at hand.
For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?THE THREAD
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.“Present with me” here uses the same Greek verb as in Romans 7:18, where it describes the will to do good. The shared wording holds both the will and evil close at hand in the same experience.
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