If a man use it lawfully;— This plainly intimates, that there were some who abused the law, borrowing a pretence from it to condemn some of the best of men, and to subvert the gospel: and whereas some have represented St. Paul as an enemy to the law, he here denies and disproves the charge. The design of the Mosaic law was to direct the conduct of those to whom it was given, to humble them under a sense of their sins, and to lead them to an atoning Saviour; but it could not be intended to save them by a perfect conformity to it, which was το αδυνατον, what the law could not do. Romans 8:3.
Related Commentaries of 1 Timothy 1:8
1 Timothy 1:8
8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;