Paul told people not to allow their passions to rule them, but to obey God. Paul understood the hold such passions had on people. He described his own struggle with passions this way: “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am!” (NIV, Romans 7:22–23)