Man needed to be shown the foulness of his malady. Against his wickedness not even a holy and good commandment could avail; by it the wickedness was increased rather than diminished.
This is true as far as a sort of training with fear and preparatory discipline goes, leading as it did to the culmination of legislation and finally to grace. ?
"And that he knows that what is just is good, appears by his saying, "So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good".
Quare "lex quid era est sancta, et man datum sanctum, et just urn, et bonum.".
Wherefore the law is productive of the emotion of fear. "So that the law is holy "and in truth "spiritual".
Jesus, accordingly, does not charge him with not having fulfilled all things out of the law, but loves him, and fondly welcomes his obedience in what he had learned; but says that he is not perfect as respects eternal life, in as much as he had not fulfilled what is perfect, and that he is a doer indeed of the law, but idle at the true life. Those things, indeed, are good. Who denies it? For "the commandment is holy"
“Law” and “commandment” are synonymous in this case. The commandment is called “holy” because it takes us away from sin and sets us apart from evil; “just” because with its righteousness it honors those who obey it and punishes those who transgress it; “good” because it leads us to the good, and this because of the goodness given by God. The law is not sin just because it shows me what is evil but the opposite. .
Some people say that here Paul is not talking about the law of Moses but rather about the law of nature or of the commandment given in paradise. But surely Paul’s aim is to reach beyond the authority of the law of Moses; he has no quarrel with the other two. And rightly so, for it was because the Jews feared the abolition of their law that they so obstinately opposed the working of grace. Moreover, it does not appear that Paul ever called the commandment given in paradise a law, nor has any other writer. Following Paul’s logic, let us pursue the argument a little further. Having spoken to the Romans about proper standards of behavior, Paul goes on to say: “Do you not know, brethren—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during his life? But you are discharged from the law.” … Now if these things had been said about the natural law, we would now be without it. And if that were true, we would be more senseless than the irrational creatures ar...
Converting souls; the statutes of the Lord (are) direct, delighting hearts; the precept of the Lord far-shining, enlightening eyes. "Thus, too, the apostle: "And so the law indeed is holy, and the precept holy and most good"
