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We know that the Law is good, if a man use it lawfully. This passage contains the last recorded utterance of the apostle concerning the Law, and of which he speaks with all the conscious authority of an apostle. He asserts the goodness of the Law - the moral Law, not the ceremonial, which was now disannulled, for the context refers expressly to the precepts of the Decalogue - and this goodness is manifest if you keep in view the moral end for which it was given. Perhaps the apostle may have had in view the lax moral practice of the errorists at Ephesus.

I. THE LAWFUL USE OF THE LAW. Scripture sets forth its design in plain language.

1. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. (Galatians 3:24.) Thus "Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness" (Romans 10:4).

2. But it only brings us to Christ as it reveals to us our imperfections and our sins. "For by the Law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). It was, indeed, "added because of transgressions" (Galatians 3:19). The Law shows us our sinfulness, and drives us to the Savior. It thus "shuts us up to faith" (Galatians 3:23).

II. THE UNLAWFUL USE OF THE LAW.

1. To make it the occasion of endless logomachies - of vain talking, of "strivings about the Law."

2. To seek justification by obedience to its precepts.

3. To strive for the attainment of holiness by a use of the Law, interpreted, not in its plain sense, but with meanings imposed upon it by mystical allegorizings and theosophic culture. The errorists at Ephesus were no Pharisaic legalists or mere Judaists, but persons ignorant of the true nature and design of the Law; who abstained from things lawful and good, and were yet morally corrupt (Titus 1:10; Revelation 2:9, 14, 20, 24).

III. GROUND OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ITS LAWFUL AND UNLAWFUL USE. "Knowing this, that the Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless"

1. The Law is not made for a righteous man.

(1) This does not mean that a righteous man - that is, a man right with God, whose experience has made the principles of righteousness habitual with him - has no relation whatever to the Law.

(a) Because the Law had relation to

(α) Adam in innocence, who had the Law written in his heart;

(β) to Abraham, who was a righteous man;

(χ) to David, who was a righteous man;

(δ) and to all the Old Testament saints;

(ε) it had even relation to Jesus Christ himself,

who was "made under the Law" - the very "Law that was in his heart" (Psalm 40:8), of which he was "the end for righteousness" (Romans 10:4), because he came to fulfill it (Matthew 5:16).

(b) Because the Law has relation to believers under the Christian dispensation; for this very apostle enforces the obligation to obey it, specifying six of its enactments (Romans 13:8, 9; Ephesians 6:1). James says that believers who show respect of persons become "transgressors of the Law." Therefore, when the apostle says "the Law is not made for a righteous man," he does not mean that the righteous man is no longer bound to obey it. He delights in it; he actually serves it (Romans 7:25). If any should say that the apostle means that the righteous do not need the Law to direct them, we answer that they might as well say they do not need the Scripture to direct them, as the Law is already in their hearts. How is a righteous man to know sin but by the Law? "For by the Law is the knowledge of sin."

(2) His statement has an abstract cast, like our Lord's saying, "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

(a) The Law was not made because of righteous, but because of wicked, men. "It was added because of transgressions." It is similar to the statement of the apostle concerning the nine graces of the Spirit - "against such there is no Law" (Galatians 5:23). The Law does not, cannot condemn, any one of these graces.

(b) The Law was never made for the righteous man in the sense in which it was made for the unrighteous man, to condemn him; for the righteous man is redeemed from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13). Its penalty cannot affect him; its burden does not weigh him down; its terrors do not bring him into bondage. On the contrary, he delights in it as he serves it. Thus, while in one sense the righteous man delights in it and serves it, he is in another sense "not under the Law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). It may be further observed that if Adam had continued in his original righteousness, the Law of Sinai would never have been given to man. "It was added because of transgressions."

2. The Law is made for the wicked. They are described according to the two tables of the Decalogue. Those in the first table go in pairs.

(1) The lawless and unruly. These terms describe opposition to the Law - the one in its more subjective, the other in its more objective side; the one representing, perhaps, a more passive, the other a more active hostility to Law.

(2) The ungodly and sinful. These terms describe the opposition to God - the one without reverence for him, the other living in defiance of him.

(3) The unholy and profane. These terms describe the manifestation of the wicked and godless spirit toward the Name or ordinances of God. They touch upon the violation of the first four commandments.

(4) Those in the second table in with

(a) sins against the fifth commandment: "smiters of fathers and smiters of mothers;"

(b) sins against the sixth: "man-slayers;"

(c) sins against the seventh: "fornicators, sodomites;"

(d) sins against the eighth: "men-stealers" - this special form of transgression being selected because the theft of a man himself is a far more serious offence than the theft of his goods;

(e) sins against the ninth: "for liars, for perjurers" - the one being a great advance in enormity upon the other.

(f) Strange that the apostle does not enumerate the tenth, which operated upon himself so powerfully (Romans 7:7). Perhaps it was designed by the inclusive reference no longer to the committers of sin, but to the sins themselves: "And if there be any other thing that is contrary to the sound instruction, according to the gospel of the glory of God which was committed to my trust." This language implies

(1) that the list is not designed to be exhaustive of the various forms of evil in the worm;

(2) that the Law and the gospel are in perfect harmony respecting what is sin;

(3) that the design of the gospel is to set forth the glory of God's mercy, goodness and love;

(4) that the gospel is a precious deposit committed to human hands, to be dispensed for the benefit of the race of man. The apostle did not shrink from such a solemn trust, but rather rejoiced in it. - T.C.

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KJV: But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

WEB: But we know that the law is good, if a man uses it lawfully,