as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
The word "made" (keitai) means "laid down, set, appointed" (Vincent 1016). There is a wide range of ideas concerning the actual meaning of this phrase. MacKnight says that the idea of the law of Moses "not being laid down for a righteous man" means that the righteous man was never intended to be justified by the law (MacKnight 186). But if a righteous man had always obeyed the law, he would have been justified by it. Barnes’ explanation of the phrase seems to capture Paul’s meaning in the verse: