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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the Law." This is the clearest answer in the passage, which if he had said immediately upon starting he would not have gained so easy a hearing. But since it is after many perplexities, and preparations, and demonstrations that he sets it down, and after using countless preparatory steps, he has at last made it more intelligible, and also more easily admitted. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
You ask: why did the Israelites not attain righteousness, even though they earnestly pursued it? Know that they sought justification not in faith, but as if in the works of the law.
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
Second, he assigns the cause, saying, why is it that although they observed the law, they did not fulfill the law? Because they did not observe the law in the proper way. And this is what he says: because they sought it not by faith, i.e., they sought to be made just not through faith in Christ but as it were of works. For they followed the figure and repudiated the truth: for by the works of the law no human being shall be justified before him (Rom 3:20). …
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