against such an order.1 For sin is essentially self-will, or, in the words of 1 John 3:4, ‘lawlessness.’ Paul develops the account of his experience in the famous passage which may be summed up in the words: ‘Not the good which I desire do I achieve, but the evil which I do not desire, this I do.’2 The idea has found abundant expression in ancient literature. The words of Ovid are familiar: ‘I see the higher course and approve it: the lower I follow’ (Metam. vii. 20).3 The ground which the apostle