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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"But for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers." He calls the Jews "lawless and disobedient" too. "The law (he says) worketh wrath," that is, to the evil doers. But what to him who is deserving of reward? "By the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. iii. 20.) What then with respect to the righteous? "the law is not made," he says, "for a righteous man." Wherefore? …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Because he does not wait for the law to teach him what must be done. This he knows, and he does not fear punishment. By the righteous man here understand one who has attained perfection in virtue: one who not out of fear before the law, but for the sake of the good itself hates evil, who becomes wholly virtue and does more than the law requires, considering it unworthy to be guided by that which threatens him with punishment; but living courageously in virtue, rises above everything characteristic of children; just as a physician is …
Oecumenius
Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for sexually immoral persons, for men who practice homosexuality, for enslavers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing contrary to sound doctrine. understanding this. And Paul says that the one who knows has used the law legitimately, knowing that he does not need it for living rightly. …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Because "for a righteous man the law was not made;" and yet "the law is good, if a man use it lawfully." Now by connecting together these two seemingly contrary statements, the apostle warns and urges his reader to sift the question and solve it too. For how can it be that "the law is good, if a man use it lawfully," if what follows is also true: "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man?" For who but a righteous man lawfully uses the law? Yet it is not for him that it is made, but for the unrighteous. …
Ambrose of Milan
I consider not wealth but virtue as liberty, for it does not bow to the wishes of the stronger, and it is laid hold of and possessed by one's own greatness of soul. The wise man is always free. He is always held in honor; he is always master of the laws. The law is not made for the just but for the unjust. The just man is a law unto himself, and he does not need to summon the law from afar, for he carries it enclosed in his heart, and it is said to him, "Drink water out of your own vessels and from the stream of your own well."
Thomas Aquinas
Then when he says, knowing, he shows the status of the law from the viewpoint of the lawgiver's intention: first, he gives his supposed intention; second, his real intention, at but for the unjust. The supposed intention is excluded when he says, the law is not made for the just man. There can be two false interpretations of this: one is that a just man does not obey the law; and this is false, because if he disobeyed it in its moral precepts, he would not be just. Hence even Christ was made under the law. …
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