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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"For not the hearers of the law are just before God." Well doth he add "before God;" for haply before men they may be able to appear dignified and to vaunt great things, but before God it is quite otherwise-the doers of the Law alone are justified. You see with what advantage he combats, by turning what they said to an opposite bearing. For if it is by the Law you claim to be saved, in this respect, saith he, the Gentile will stand before you, when seen to be a doer of what is written in the Law. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
How then do you, O Jew, say that you have no need of grace, because you are justified by the law? Behold, it has been proven that you derive no benefit from the law, so that you have a greater need of grace than the Gentile, since you are not justified before God by merely hearing the law. Before men, hearers of the law may appear honorable; but before God it is not so: before Him, the doers of the law are justified.
Cyprian
That we must labour not with words, but with deeds. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: "Be not hasty in thy tongue, and in thy deeds useless and remiss." And Paul, in the first to the Corinthians: "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." Also to the Romans: "Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: "He who shall do and teach so, shall be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Also in the same place: "Every one who heareth my …
Western Saints
Gregory the Dialogist
Therefore, by hearing the precepts of God they were not enlightened; by doing them they were enlightened, because it is written: "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Whoever therefore wishes to understand what he has heard, let him hasten to fulfill in deed those things which he has already been able to understand.
Thomas Aquinas
After confuting the human judgment with which the gentiles and Jews judged one another and commending God's judgment, the Apostle now undertakes to show that the things in which the Jews gloried do not suffice for their salvation. First, he states his position; second, he answers arguments against his position, at what advantage then has the Jew? (Rom 3:1). The Jews gloried in two things, namely, the law and circumcision, which stemmed not from the law but from the patriarchs (John 7:22). …
Bonaventure
The second benefit of keeping the commandments of God is the understanding of the sacred Scriptures. Gregory says that "by hearing God's precepts the disciples were not illuminated, but by doing them they were illuminated"; because "not the hearers of the law only, but the doers shall be justified." On account of this James says: "Be doers of the word of God and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." When a man hears the word of God, it seems to him that he understands it well, but it immediately departs; but when he puts it to …
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