Whenever someone brings up obedience to the Law, many Christians like to bring up Romans 10:4 and say that Christ is the end of the Law of Moses. Those in the Hebrew Roots like to say that Romans 10:4 is mistranslated and should read that Christ is the goal of the Law, not the end. What if I told you both positions are missing what Romans 10:4 says?
Let’s look at the verse through a few translations. I’m using BibleHub(.com) if you need to look up the translation abbreviations.
Romans 10:4 (ESV) “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Most translations have it worded nearly identical to the English Standard Version. Even Young’s Literal Translation is the same while changing “who believes” with “one who is believing.” So, here are some translations that have it worded differently.
Romans 10:4 (NIV) “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:4 (ASV) “For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Romans 10:4 (NAB) “For Christ is the end of the law for the justification of everyone who has faith.”
Do you notice anything about those verses that is different from just saying Christ is the end of the Law? And I’m not just pointing out that it is shorter than the actual verse. If you know the parts of speech in English, you should see a second prepositional phrase in there. A prepositional phrase modifies a verb or a noun. In this case, the second preposition phrase modifies the word law. Paul is telling us a specific thing about the word ‘law’ and is not just talking about the Law as a whole. Or, he is telling us about a law other than the Law of Moses. Let me explain by breaking down the sentence.
The subject and verb are “Christ is.” So we have to ask, Christ is what? Paul says that Christ is the end. The end of what? Here comes the first prepositional phrase to answer that question. Christ is the end of the law. The second prepositional phrase modifies (or builds upon) the first. Christ is the end of the law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This prepositional phrase changes everything. The understanding that Christ is the end of the Law of Moses (meaning you don’t have to obey it anymore) is incorrect because of the words “for righteousness” in the sentence. More on that in a minute.
The position of the HRM is that the verse should read, “Christ is the goal of the Law for righteousness.” The idea is that Christ followed the Law perfectly, and we are to follow His example. Therefore, He set the goal for us to aim for. While it is true that He is our example to follow and we are to walk as He walked, if Christ is the goal of the Law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, then we would have to live a perfect life like He did to be righteous before God. That’s how the verse reads with the prepositional phrase. Christ did something FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and that something would be our goal to strive for. That’s not obtainable.
No offense to those who think the word should be ‘goal,’ but the word end is better suited in this situation because of the prepositional phrase. But we still haven’t looked at what Paul means by saying this. Let’s look at the parents of John the Baptizer as an example.
Luke 1:6 (ESV) “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Does this mean that they were sinless like the Messiah? Of course not. We are all sinners in need of a savior. It is simply saying that they obeyed all of the commandments. For that, they were called righteous before God. Meaning they were in right-standing with God. (I’m going to add here that their faith in God is a huge part of their being in right-standing with God, but it is not pertinent to what we’re talking about here. I just want to be clear that I am not discounting faith as a factor.)
Now, let’s jump back to Mt. Sinai to see an example of being in right-standing (literally) with God. Exodus 19 says that God told Moses to tell the people that if they obey Him, He will be their God, and they will be His people. They agreed to the covenant. God then told Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves for two days because God was coming down to the mountain on the third day. Consecration means to sanctify oneself, to make clean, and to purify and not defile. There was even an order for husbands not to lay with their wives for those two days. God would descend to the mountain on the third day, and the people were not to touch the mountain. Anyone who did so would be put to death.
This gives us a picture of the holiness of God. The people were to sanctify themselves for two days before God would descend to the mountain on the third day. Even then, no one was to touch the mountain because the holiness of God was there. Two days of sanctification was enough to put them in the right-standing with God so His presence could come down and speak to them. The Law of Moses also provided a means to sanctify oneself to be right before God if one had sinned. But let’s look at Zechariah and Elizabeth again. Luke says they walked “blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Someone who is living by the commandments is practicing righteousness. That means they don’t need to be sanctified again until such a time when they may sin and need to be cleansed. Hold that thought in your mind. We will come back to that.
So, let’s piece this together. John’s parents were righteous before God because they walked blamelessly in the commandments. And, just as the Israelites had to consecrate themselves before God’s presence could come down to the mountain, there were things in the Law you had to do to cleanse yourself from sin so you could come to God’s House or partake in His Feasts and celebrations. Through the Law, you could become righteous before God after committing an unrighteous act. Romans 10:4 addresses that kind of righteousness. Some would make the argument that the Law could never make anyone righteous, or that all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags to God. As for the latter, that argument is a misrepresentation of Isaiah 64:6 and used out of context. The arguments are valid, however, if the righteousness in question was perfect. The Law cannot make someone perfectly righteous just as the two-day cleansing in the Israelite camp did not make them perfectly righteous to be able to touch the mountain of God. Do you see the difference? God made a way for His people to come close to Him. That way was through the righteousness of the Law. But that way was not perfect as the writer of Hebrews explains.
Hebrews 10:1-4 “For since the Law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Hebrews is talking about the Day of Atonement sacrifice, which is the only one that is offered yearly. And only the High Priest could offer that sacrifice. Hebrews goes on to explain how the Messiah is the only High Priest who could offer that sacrifice once and for all because He was perfectly righteous and didn’t need to atone for His sins before going into the Holy of Holies.
Hebrews 10:12,14 “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. 14 For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Did you catch that? He PERFECTED those being sanctified. Sanctification is another topic, but here we see the difference between righteousness that comes from the Law and the perfect righteousness that comes from Christ. Therefore, when Paul says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,’ he is pointing out that the righteousness of Christ is far superior to the righteousness that comes from the Law. So there is only one choice for obtaining perfect righteousness, and that is from Christ. Does that mean we no longer have to follow the Law of Moses? Certainly not! Not following the Law is the definition of sin. And Paul makes it clear that we should not go on sinning just so grace can abound in our lives. Romans 6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Christ, therefore, is the end of the law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, but He did not do away with the Law. But, you might ask, how can we follow the Law when it prescribes ways for us to be righteous but those things have come to an end? So I would ask, do you need to ask forgiveness for obeying God? John answers this question in 1 John 2:1. “My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua.” John says we should not sin. That means we are to obey the Law. But if we do miss the mark, John doesn’t tell us to go offer a sacrifice. He tells us we have an advocate in the righteous Messiah. The what? The RIGHTEOUS. His righteousness is imputed to us if we put our faith in Him. Imputed means it is assigned to us. His perfect righteousness can cover our misdeeds.
Paul agrees with John in Romans 6:15-16. “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Paul is very clear here. We are not to disregard the Law and keep sinning. We should be slaves of obedience to the Law. And that leads to righteousness, not a righteousness of our own but because of the advocate we have with the Father. Paul is talking about the sanctification process. He said this earlier in Romans 2:13. “For it is not the hearers of Torah who are righteous before God; rather, it is the doers of Torah who will be justified.” The difference between justification and sanctification is that justification puts us in right-standing with God (through Christ’s righteousness) and sanctification is the ongoing process of living in obedience. Paul puts those together by saying that those who obey (doers) will be given the righteousness of Christ (justification). This is where faith comes in. Those who have faith in Him will obey. 1 John 2:3-4 “Now we know that we have come to know Him (or, have faith in Him) by this—if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Many other verses from the writings of James, John, Paul, and Peter show that we are still to follow God’s Law. So, the belief that Romans 10:4 says the Law of Moses has ended is in error. It’s in trying to keep the Law for righteousness that has ended. He is our righteousness.
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 “But because of [God] you are in Messiah Yeshua, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and holiness and redemption— 31 so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in Adonai.'”
(This is part one of this series.)
Click here for part two.
