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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man." The law, he seems to say, is good, and again, not good. What then? if one use it not lawfully, is it not good? Nay even so it is good. But what he means is this; if any one fulfills it in his actions; for that is to "use it lawfully" as here intended. But when they expound it in their words, and neglect it in their deeds, that is using it unlawfully. For such an one uses it, but not to his own profit. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
That is, if someone not only explains it in words but also fulfills it in deed. For whoever studies the ordinances of the law but does not fulfill them uses the law unlawfully. Or alternatively, the one who is led by it to Christ uses the law lawfully. The law, not having the power to guide or justify, directs the one seeking righteousness to Christ — and this is its purpose: so that the one who prefers Christ to the law uses the law lawfully, that is, as the law itself commands.
Oecumenius
And we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. that the law is good. If it's anything other than this [that is, using it lawfully], it's not good. But who is the one who lawfully uses it? The one who is sent to faith through it. For the law does not have the power to justify, but it leads to Christ who is able to justify. For the one who fulfills it, not the one who interprets it, lawfully uses it.
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
Then when he says, but we know that the law is good, he describes the status of the law in regard to two things: first, as to the goodness of the law; second, as to the end and intention of the lawgiver, at knowing this. He says, therefore: we know with certainty that the law is good and not evil, as some heretics claim: the law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls (Ps 18:8); the law indeed is holy and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Rom 7:12). But it can happen that someone uses what is good in an evil manner. …
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