Martin Luther (commenting on Romans 7:14-25) - PREFACE to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans

 (1545) Preface to the LETTER

. . .Then St. Paul shows how spirit and flesh struggle with each other in one person.

He gives himself as an example, so that we may learn how to kill sin

in ourselves.  He gives both spirit and flesh the name "law,"

so that, just as it is in the nature of divine law to drive a person on

and make demands of them/him/her,

so too the flesh drives and demands and rages against the spirit

and wants to have its own way.  This feud lasts in us for

as long as we live, in one person more, 

in another

less, depending on whether 

spirit or flesh is stronger.

Yet the whole human being 

is both: spirit and flesh.

The human being fights with themselves/himself/herself until 

they/he/she becomes completely spiritual.