To answer the original post:
[i]Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(Romans 7:1-25)[/i]
In our flesh dwells the law of sin, and this law will dwell in our flesh as a part of our fallen nature until the day of glorification. Notice Paul's conclusion of the whole chapter (which proves this applies not only to Pharisees, but to all Christians, including Paul himself); he says, "So then, with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin". Then he says "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in CHRIST".
According to the law of God (of Moses), we sin all the time, but according to the law of the Spirit of Christ, we can walk in freedom and victory with pure consciences before God, knowing that grace empowers us to obey its requirements, and that if we do stumble and sin, grace enables us to be forgiven, so long as we truly abide in Christ and do those things that are acceptable to Him in faith. So according to the law of the Spirit, we don't sin all the time, for we walk in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. The law of Moses in fulfilled in Christ and abolished in us by His death, and its requirements have no more hold. Now we are set free to serve God in simplicity of love.
More scripture:
[i]This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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.
(Galatians 5:16-17)
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
(1 John 1:8)
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
(1 Peter 4:8)[/i]
The problem comes in when we view sin merely as an act of the will rather than as a shortcoming against the glory of God. Sin is not only an act of the will voluntarily committed, as Paul says in Romans 7 "To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not". His will was against sin, but the law of sin dwelling within his members, in his flesh, didn't let him walk in perfect sinlessness. Sin is a law in our flesh, and sin is coming short of the glory of God, not just a conscious act of the will to disobey against known light. Because of this, we have a shortcoming within us every day, but we don't voluntarily sin against known light every day.
