For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
4. For Christ, &c.] The connexion is that the conduct of the Jews was a total mistake of their own Revelation; for He whom they rejected was no accidental or alien intruder, but “the End of the Law.” The ver. may be closely, and better, rendered; For the end of the Law is Christ, unto righteousness, to everyone that believeth; the whole idea conveyed by the words from “Christ” to “believeth” being the “end of the Law.”
the end of the law ] Cp. for the phrase 1Pe 1:9, “the end of your faith;” i.e. what your faith leads up to. So here Christ our Justification was what the Law (the preceptive Revelation by Moses) led up to, both prophetically by its types and predictions, and preparatively by its sin-discovering and inexorable demands. (See for the latter respect, ch. 7.) The words are capable of the sense “the close of the Law,” i.e. “He who brings it to an end.” But this is not the aspect of the matter in this context, nor in the Epistle as a whole.
for righteousness ] unto righteousness; in order to be “The Lord our righteousness” (Jer 23:6). See on Rom 1:17; &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For Christ – This expression implies faith in Christ. This is the design of the discussion, to show that justification cannot be obtained by our own righteousness, but by faith in Christ. As no direct benefit results to people from Christ unless they believe on him, faith in him is implied where the word occurs in this connection.
Is the end of the law – The word translated end means what completes a thing, or renders it perfect; also the boundary, issue, or termination of anything, as the end of life, the result of a prophecy, etc.; Joh 13:1; Luk 22:37. It also means the design or object which is had in view; the principal purpose for which it was undertaken; 1Ti 1:5, The end of the commandment is charity; the main design or purpose of the command is to produce love; 1Pe 1:9, The end of your faith, the salvation of your souls; the main design or purpose of faith is to secure salvation; Rom 14:9, To this end Christ both died, etc. For this design or purpose. This is doubtless its meaning here. The main design or object which the perfect obedience of the Law would accomplish, is accomplished by faith in Christ. That is, perfect obedience to the Law would accomplish justification before God, secure his favor and eternal life. The same end is now accomplished by faith in Christ. The great design of both is the same; and the same great end is finally gained. This was the subject of discussion between the apostle and the Jews; and this is all that is necessary to understand in the case. Some have supposed that the word end refers to the ceremonial law; that Christ fulfilled it, and brought it to an end. Others, that he perfectly fulfilled the moral law. And others, that the Law in the end leads us to Christ, or that its design is to point us to him. All this is true, but not the truth taught in this passage. That is simple and plain, that by faith in Christ the same end is accomplished in regard to our justification, that would be by perfect obedience to the moral law.
For righteousness – Unto justification with God.
To every … – See the note at Rom 1:17.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Christ the end of the law
I. In what sense?
1. As its great antitype.
2. Its only sacrifice.
3. The source of its moral power.
II. For what end? To secure–
1. Pardon of sin.
2. Holiness of life.
III. Unto whom?
1. Every one.
2. That believeth. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Christ the end of the law for righteousness
I. The end of all law is righteousness–the production of the most perfect results.
1. In the natural world the use of the law is to perpetuate results essential to its well-being, e.g., the circulation of the atmosphere, ebb and flow of tide, alteration of seasons, motions and influence of planets, etc.
2. The great aim of law in the moral world is to regulate conduct so as to produce a righteous character. The aim of the law of Moses was to lead to a higher life (Rom 7:10).
(1) The ethical element in the Mosaic law discovered to man the havoc made by sin (Rom 7:7; Rom 7:11; Rom 7:13).
(2) The ceremonial element shadowed forth the remedy. The sacrifices and festivals were intended to show the necessity for the expiation of sin, by the atonement of Christ.
II. In Christ we have the grand end of both the ethical and ceremonial law–righteousness and holiness. Law depends for its authority upon the personal character of the lawgiver. The character of Christ was like His law–holy, just, and good.
1. From Christ proceeds the moral law by which sin is discovered to us. His character is a constant reproof to us. His words bring home the consciousness of violated law.
2. In Christ is the only remedy for sin. The arrangements of the ceremonial law terminated in Him–the shadow retired when the substance appeared. In His life and death He fulfilled the duties and endured the penalties of the law, thus vindicating the righteousness of God and providing a complete righteousness for sinful man.
III. Faith in Christ is accepted as a perfect obedience to the law. Law is powerless punitively when the end for which it exists is attained. We disarm the law by obeying it. All our unaided efforts to obey law–while in a state of lawless unnature–are futile. It is like running alongside a parallel pathway into which we are vainly trying to turn ourselves. Faith, and faith only, is the means of junction. This puts us into the position in which law would place us. The end of all law being the production of the most perfect results, this very end is answered when we believe in Jesus. For Christ, and all He has, becomes our own. He is made unto us, of God, wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. The law and the gospel are evidenced in mans moral nature. The law the ideal of its life, the gospel the life of its ideal. Lessons:
1. It is hopeless to attempt to attain righteousness by law, because of our moral inability to obey all its requirements.
2. Faith in Christ is the only and universal way of obedience. (J. S. Exell, M.A.)
Christ the end of the law for righteousness
I. What is implied in these words.
1. That the law of God has been universally broken (Rom 3:10-12).
2. That, therefore, every man is under the curse of that law (Gal 3:13; Rom 2:8-11).
3. That, in order to be saved, this curse must be removed and sins remitted.
4. That no man of himself can remove this curse or obtain this remission of his sins.
5. That notwithstanding God cannot recede from His claims, nor abate one jot or tittle of what His holy law demands, either in penalty or precept.
6. That every person who would obtain salvation must look out for such a righteousness as shall be answerable to all the claims of the law, be perfectly satisfactory to God, and therefore available for his justification and peace.
II. In what way is Christ the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth? Consider–
1. The general purport of Christs coming (Psa 40:6-10; Heb 10:1-14; Isa 42:6-7; Isa 42:21; Dan 9:24; Jer 23:5-6; Jer 33:15-16; Isa 53:6, cf. 1Pe 2:24; 2Co 5:21).
2. The special character of His mediation. We must consider it as substitutional. We must behold Him rendering unto God, for those whom He represented, a perfect obedience to the law which they have broken, and suffering to its full and utmost extent the curse which they have incurred. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness–not by abrogating its authority, or lowering its requisitions, to meet the exigencies of our lapsed condition–but rather by asserting its full obligation and satisfying all its equitable claims. This is the great glory of the gospel–that God can be just–in exacting every claim of the law and in punishing every sin of those whom He saves to its full desert–and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus.
III. To whom is this provision available, or who are benefited thereby. Every one that believeth, and no more. But we must ascertain–
1. The testimony given in Scripture to this truth. We are again and again told that faith alone is the means appointed by God for granting the efficacy of this provision to the souls of men.
2. Why we can be benefited in this way of faith, and in no other? It is enough to say that God hath declared it. But we need not let the subject rest here. Man is utterly lost, helpless, and undone. Nothing that we can do can avail for our salvation. Our help and hope are based upon One, who only is mighty to save. It is therefore evident that the only way in which we can be benefited by what another has done for our salvation, must be by believing in Him for the execution of such an interposition, and for the advantage of the blessing procured thereby.
3. What is the nature of that faith by which we become interested in this righteousness. It is the act of a soul made willing in the day of Gods power, under a clear discovery of its lost condition, and a clear perception of the mediation of Jesus, by which it is brought to rely on that mediation, and to plead that righteousness with God for its pardon and peace (chap. 10:10; Heb 11:1).
4. To what extent is this truth to be carried in the justification of the sinner before God? To the full extent for which it is designed for that purpose. It takes in the sinners whole case–sins, guilt, condemnation, and deserved wrath. It brings him a full and complete deliverance and justification from all. Nay, more, it invests him with the perfect righteousness of Christ, as a perfect fulfilment of the law by which he stands accepted with God.
IV. What are the importance and advantages arising therefrom. Hereby–
1. The law is established in all its authority, obligations, and claims.
2. God is honoured and exalted in the possession and exercise of all His perfections.
3. A sure and certain way of life and salvation, of pardon and peace, is opened for guilty men.
4. A sure provision is made for a loving, devoted, and delightful obedience to the will of God.
5. There is afforded to the soul a sure rock for its present safety and a firm foundation for its future security, even for ever.
6. The Church of God is provided with an unerring test by which to try every doctrine proposed for her acceptance, and an indomitable weapon by which to conquer every antichristian foe. (R. Shittler.)
Christ the end of the law for righteousness
I. The proposition. Christ is the end of the law. The end of a thing is either mathematical or moral. The mathematical end is the utmost part of a thing, in which the length or continuance is determined; as a point is the end of a line, death the end of life, the day of judgment the end of this world. The moral end of a thing is the scope and perfection of it. Now Christ is the end of the law both ways.
1. The mathematical end of the ceremonial and moral. Of the ceremonial by a direct signification, of the moral by an accidental direction. The ceremonies signified Christ and ended at Him. Properly, the moral law leads sinners to the curse, but by account to Christ, as the disease leads to the medicine or physician.
2. He is also the moral end of both. For He is the body of those ceremonies and shadows, and He perfectly fulfilled the Decalogue for us, and that three ways.
(1) In His pure conception.
(2) In His godly life.
(3) In His holy and obedient sufferings, and all for us.
For whatsoever the law required that we should be, do, or suffer, He hath performed in our behalf. Therefore one wittily saith that Christ is Telos, the end, or tribute, and we, by His payment, Ateleis, tribute-free, we are discharged by Him before God. Christ is both these ends, but principally the last is here understood.
II. The amplification for righteousness. When thou art come to Christ thou must not cast away the law, but use it still to make thee more to cling unto Christ and as a rule of righteous living. Christ is the end of the law, not the killing, but fulfilling end; not to end, but to urge thy obedience. When the merchant is come aboard his ship by boat, he drowns not his boat, but hoists it up into his ship; he may have use of it another time. Or as a nobleman neglects not his schoolmaster when he is come to his lands, but prefers him. So certainly, if the law (though sharp) hath brought thee to Christ, thou canst not but love it for this office; if thou doest not, thou hast not Christ. Yea, it will be the delight of a man to be then doing, when Christ is with him, as Peter then willingly and with success cast out his net. Without Christ the law is an uncomfortable study; but with Him, nothing more delightful. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)
Christ the end of the law
Consider–
I. Christ in connection with the law. The law is that which we have cause to dread; for the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Yet, like the fascination which attracts the gnat to the candle, men by nature fly to the law for salvation. Now, what has our Lord to do with the law?
1. He is its purpose and object. The law is our schoolmaster, or rather our attendant to conduct us to the school of Jesus; the great net in which the fish are enclosed that they may be drawn out of the element of sin; the stormy wind which drives souls into the harbour of refuge; the sheriffs officer to shut men up in prison for their sin, concluding them all under condemnation in order that they may look to the free grace of God alone for deliverance. It empties that grace may fill, wounds that mercy may heal. Had man never fallen, the law would have been most helpful to show him the way in which he should walk: and by keeping it he would have lived (Rom 10:5). But since man has fallen, a way of salvation by works has become impossible. The law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ, by showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveller to the shadow of the great rock in a weary land. The law is adapted to this; for–
(1) It shows man his sin. Who can lay his own character side by side with it without seeing how far he has fallen short of the standard? When the law comes home to the soul it is like light in a dark room revealing the dust and the dirt which else had been unperceived. It is the test which detects the presence of the poison of sin in the soul. A true balance discovers short weight, and such is the first effect of the law upon the conscience of man.
(2) It shows the result and mischief of sin. The types were intended to lead men to Christ by making them see their unclean condition and their need of such cleansing as only He can give. Men put apart because of disease or uncleanness were made to see how sin separated them from God; and when they were brought back and purified with mystic rites, they were made to see how they can only be restored by Christ, the great High Priest. Without shedding of blood is no remission.
(3) It teaches men their utter helplessness. Such holiness as the law demands no man can reach of himself. Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. How can he be clean that is born of a woman? In grace there is hope, but as a matter of debt there is none, for we do not merit anything but wrath. The law tells us this, and the sooner we know it to be so the better, for the sooner we shall fly to Christ.
(4) It shows us our great need. The law is the surgeons knife which cuts out the proud flesh that the wound may heal. The law by itself only sweeps and raises the dust, but the gospel sprinkles clean water upon the dust. The law kills, the gospel makes alive; the law strips, and then Jesus Christ robes the soul in beauty.
2. Christ is the laws fulfilment.
(1) God by immutable necessity demands righteousness of His creatures, and the law is not compelled to lower its terms, as though it had originally asked too much; but Christ gives the law all it requires. The law claims complete obedience, and Christ has brought in such a righteousness as that, and gives it to His people. Only as righteous ones can we be saved, but Christ makes us righteous, and therefore we are saved.
(2) Jesus has thus fulfilled the original demands of the law, but since we have broken it there are other demands. God will by no means clear the guilty, but every transgression shall have its just punishment. Here, then, Christ is the end of the law as to penalty. The claims of the law both as broken and unbroken Christ has met: both the positive and the penal demands are satisfied in Him.
(3) Not only has the penalty been paid, but Christ has put great honour upon the law in so doing. If the whole race had kept the law it would not stand in so splendid a position as it does now that the Son of God has paid obeisance to it. Who shall say a word against the law to which the Lawgiver Himself submits?
(4) The laws stability also has been secured by Christ. That alone can remain which is proved to be just, and Jesus has proved the law to be so, magnifying it and making it honourable. He says, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. As to the settlement of the eternal principles of right and wrong, Christs life and death have achieved this for ever. We establish the law, we do not make void the law through faith.
3. Christ is the end of the law in that He is the termination of it in two senses.
(1) His people are not under it as a covenant of life. We are not under the law, but under grace.
(2) We are no longer under its curse. Jesus has given us all the righteousness it demands, and the law is bound to bless. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
II. Ourselves in connection with Christ–for to every one that believeth. To believe is not merely to accept a set of doctrines but to trust, to confide, to rest in. Dost thou believe that Christ stood in the sinners stead and suffered the just for the unjust, and that He is able to save to the uttermost? And dost thou therefore lay the whole weight of thy souls salvation upon Him alone? Then Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to thee, and thou art righteous. It is of no use to bring forward anything else if you are not believing, for nothing will avail–sacraments, prayers, etc. Observe–
1. There is no question raised about the previous character, for it is written, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. But, Lord, this man before he believed was a persecutor and injurious. Yes, and that is the very man who wrote these words. So if I address one who is defiled with every sin, yet I say if thou believest thine iniquities are blotted out, for the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin.
2. There is nothing said by way of qualification as to the strength of the faith. He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, whether he is Little Faith or Greatheart. The link may be very like a film, a spiders line of trembling faith, but, if it runs all the way from the heart to Christ, Divine grace can and will flow along the most slender thread. It is marvellous how fine the wire may be that will carry the electric flash. If thy faith be of the mustard-seed kind, if it be only such as tremblingly touches the garments hem, if it be but the faith of sinking Peter, or weeping Mary, yet Christ will be the end of the law for righteousness to thee as well as to the chief of the apostles.
3. If this be so then all of us who believe are righteous. We are not completely sanctified, but still, in the sight of God, we are righteous, and being justified by faith we have peace with Him.
4. The connection of our text assures us that being righteous we are saved (Rom 10:9).
Conclusion:
1. If any one thinks he can save himself, and that his own righteousness will suffice before God, I would ask, if your righteousness sufficeth, why did Christ come here to work one out?
2. For any to reject the righteousness of Christ must be to perish everlastingly, because it cannot be that God will accept you or your pretended righteousness when you have refused the real and Divine righteousness which He sets before you in His Son. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ the end of the law for righteousness
I. What that righteousness is, spoken of in the text. Evidently that which is necessary in order to eternal life, and which infallibly leads to it (Rom 5:17; Rom 5:21). It is termed The righteousness of God (Rom 10:3; chap. 1:17), and said to be by faith (Rom 3:21-22; Php 3:9). It implies–
1. Justification (Rom 3:24; Tit 3:7); without which, as guilty condemned sinners, we can have no title to eternal life.
2. Regeneration or sanctification (see Php 3:9); spoken of Eph 4:17-24; Tit 3:5-6; Joh 3:5-6; without which we are not in Christ (2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15), and have no fitness for heaven.
3. Practical obedience (Eph 2:10); the grand evidence that we are righteous (Luk 1:6; 1Jn 3:7). As to the necessity of this, see Rom 2:6-7; Rev 22:14; and especially Mat 7:20-21.
II. Where and how this righteousness is to be found.
1. Not in, or by, the law.
(1) The moral law (Rom 8:3) which requires perfect obedience. This we have not paid, do not, and cannot in future, pay. Hence it finds us guilty, and has no pardon to give us; it finds us depraved, and has no new nature for us; it finds us helpless, and has no supernatural aid to impart.
(2) The ceremonial law. Its sacrifices could not remove sin (Heb 9:23; Heb 10:4). Its purifications could only impart a ceremonial cleanness, or remove the filth of the flesh (Heb 9:13; 1Pe 3:21). Its institutions respecting meats, days, etc. As they did not make the tree good, of course the fruit could not be good (Mat 12:16-19).
2. But wherefore, then, serveth the law? In Christ was the end for which the law was instituted; the moral law being chiefly to convince men of sin (Rom 3:19-20; Rom 7:7-8), and thus to be a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ (Gal 3:19-24), and the ceremonial law to shadow forth His sacrifice and grace. The end may mean–
(1) The scope; the law continually points to Christ; the moral law directs the sinner to Him who fulfilled and removed the curse of it, for that justification which itself cannot give; and the ceremonial law directs him to look from its sacrifices and purifications to the atonement and Spirit of Christ.
(2) The perfection, or completion (1Ti 1:5). Christ fulfilled the moral law in fully explaining its meaning, and freeing it from the glosses of the Scribes; in obeying it, in suffering its penalty, and in providing that it may be written in our hearts; He also answered in His person all the types and shadows of the ceremonial law.
(3) The period or termination (Rom 6:21). Thus the whole Mosaic dispensation gives way to the gospel (2Co 3:11), and its ceremonies are taken out of the way by Christ (Col 2:14).
3. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
(1) For justification, or righteousness imputed, is only to be found in His obedience unto death (Rom 3:24; 1Co 1:30; 2Co 5:21).
(2) Regeneration, a new creation, and entire sanctification are only to be found in Christ, by His Spirit and grace, who is made of God to us sanctification (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:16; 2Co 5:17; 1Co 1:30).
(3) Practical righteousness is likewise to be had in Him, His laws direct us how to walk; His promises and threatenings enforce His laws; His example allures us; and His grace enables us to walk in His ways (2Co 12:9; Heb 4:14-16).
III. By whom this righteousness is to be found. By every one that believeth (verses 5-10).
1. Its object is that God hath raised Christ from the dead. This–
(1) Demonstrated Him to be the Son of God (Rom 1:3-4), and, therefore, the only Saviour able and willing to save to the uttermost. Of this faith is persuaded, and, therefore, trusts in Him for salvation.
(2) Was the broad seal of heaven set to His doctrine, of which faith is so thoroughly persuaded as to lay it to heart and walk according to it.
(3) Was to show that His atonement was sufficient and accepted; of this faith is also persuaded and, therefore, relies solely on the propitiation in His blood for justification (Rom 3:23, etc.; Gal 2:16-20).
(4) Was that He might ascend, and intercede, and receive for us the promise of the Father, for which faith thirsts and comes to Him (Joh 7:37-38).
(5) He rose and ascended as our Forerunner. This faith believes, and, consequently, anticipates immortality and glory. He rose to give evidence that He will judge all mankind (Act 17:31). Faith is persuaded of this, and prepares to meet Him.
2. Our faith, in these respects, must be such as will enable us to make confession with our mouth, therefore it must be with the heart man believeth unto righteousness (verse 10). As to the faith that does not part with sin, and give up everything that stands in competition with Christ, it is dead (Jam 2:20-26).
3. As to the origin of this faith (see verses11-17). It arises from the Word and Spirit of God (Act 16:14; Eph 2:8-9; Col 2:12). Therefore, hearing, reading, and prayer, are the important means. And in the exercise of that measure of faith we have received, however small, it will be increased. (Joseph Benson.)
Christ the end of the law for righteousness
I. The immutability of the law is a fundamental truth. This rests on its nature and the immutability of God. The evidence is found in nature and conscience.
1. This the Jews believed, and it lay at the foundation of their error, which was twofold.
(1) That the law was to be fulfilled by their own righteousness.
(2) That the form in which the law was immutable was Mosaism.
2. This error led–
(1) To the effort to establish their own righteousness.
(2) To their making righteousness consist in ceremonial obedience.
3. Paul taught–
(1) That the law is immutable.
(2) That it cannot be satisfied by our righteousness, but only by the righteousness of God.
(3) That Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
(4) Consequently the immutability of the law is consistent with its abrogation, because its abrogation is effected by its fulfilment.
The law is immutable so far as it demands righteousness as an indispensable condition of justification. But it is abrogated so far as it says, Do this and live, i.e., so far as it requires our own righteousness.
II. In what sense is Christ the end of the law.
1. Not in the sense of its completion. Telos never occurs in the sense of pleroma.
2. But in the sense of having made an end of it, abolished it. This He has done–
(1) In so satisfying its demands that it ceases to require our own personal righteousness as a condition of justification.
(2) In putting an end to the Mosaic institutions, so that obedience to that law is no longer necessary to salvation.
3. In the sense of being its aim or object. This means either–
(1) That the end of the law is righteousness. Christ is the end of the law because He is our righteousness; its design is secured in Him. So that it is by faith, not works, that the end of the law is to be attained.
(2) Or, Christ is the object aimed at in the law. It was designed to bring us to Christ.
III. Consequences.
1. Out of Christ we are exposed–
(1) To the inexorable demands of the law.
(2) To its awful curse.
(3) To its slavish spirit.
2. In Him we are righteous.
(1) We meet all the demands of the law by pleading what He has done.
(2) We are free from its curse as He was made a curse for us.
(3) We are delivered from the spirit of bondage again to fear and are filled with the Spirit of adoption.
Conclusion: As a result of faith in Christ our righteousness we have–
1. Peace with God, and peace of conscience.
2. Assurance of eternal life, as no one can condemn those whom God justifies.
3. A principle of obedience, for until we are reconciled there can be no holiness.
4. All the benefits of Christs triumph. Having obeyed and suffered for us as our representative, we share in all the blessings promised as His reward. (C. Hodge, D.D.)
Christ the end of the law
Christ was revealed to abrogate, to annihilate, utterly to abolish sin. Now, we all know what it is to have a thing abrogated. Certain laws have held good up to the first of January of this year with regard to the hiring of public carriages, but now are under a new law. Suppose a driver complies with the new law, gets his license, puts up his flag, gives the passenger his card of prices, and afterwards the passenger summons him before the magistrate for asking a fare not authorised by the old law; the magistrate would say, You are out of court, there is no such law. You cannot bring the man here, he has not broken the old law, for he is not under it. He has complied with the requisition of the new law, by which he declares himself no longer under the old rules, and I have no power over him. So he that believeth in Christ Jesus may be summoned by conscience when misinformed before the bar of God, but the answer of peace to his conscience is, Ye are not under the law, but under grace. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The relation of the law to the gospel
(text and 1Ti 1:5):–The law of God may be viewed in a twofold aspect, to distinguish between which is to prove a safeguard against both the errors of legality and the errors of antinomianism. We must regard the law–
I. In relation to the righteousness which constitutes the title to its rewards.
1. When we strive to make this out by our own obedience, the aim is to possess ourselves of a legal right to heaven. We proceed on the imagination of a contract between God and man–whereof the counterpart terms are a fulfilment of the laws requisitions upon the one side, and a bestowment of the laws rewards upon the other. The one is the purchase-money–the other is the payment. They stand related to each other, as work does to wages. Now this spirit of legality, as it is called, is nearly the universal spirit of humanity. They are not the Israelites only who go about to establish a righteousness of their own. There is, in fact, a legal disposition in the heart, and, long after the utter shortness of human virtue has been demonstrated, yet will man, as if by the bias of a constitutional necessity, recur to the old legal imagination, of this virtue being a thing of desert, and of heaven being the reward which is due to it.
2. Now, for man to establish a right by his righteousness, is in the face of all jurisprudence. Both the law and the gospel alike disown mans legal right to the rewards of eternity; and if he be too proud to disown it himself, he remains both a victim of condemnation by the one, and a helpless, hopeless outcast from the mercy of the other. If man will persist in seeking to make out a title-deed to heaven by his own obedience, then that obedience must be perfect. Even if he have but committed one sin–there is the barrier of a moral necessity in his way, which it is impossible to force. The God who cannot lie, cannot recall His curse upon every one who continueth not in all the words of the book of His law to do them. And one of two things must happen. Either, with a just conception of the standard of the law, he will sink into despair; or, with a low conception of that standard, he, though but grovelling among the mere decencies of civil life or the barren formalities of religious service, will aspire no farther and yet count himself safe.
3. Now herein lies the grand peculiarity of the gospel. It pronounces on the utter insignificance of all that man can do for the establishment of his right to the kingdom of heaven; and yet, he must be somehow or other provided with such a right, ere that he can find admittance there. It is not by an act of mercy alone that the gate of heaven is opened to the sinner. He must be furnished with a plea which he can state at the bar of justice–not the plea of his own deservings, which the gospel holds no terms with; and therefore with a plea founded exclusively on the deservings of another. Now what we reckon to be the very essence of the gospel is the report which it brings to a sinful world of a solid and satisfying plea; and that every sinner is welcome to the use of it. In defect of his own righteousness, which he is required to disown, he is told of an everlasting righteousness which another has brought in; and which he is invited, nay commanded, to make mention of. It is thus that Christ becomes the end of the law for righteousness.
II. As holding out a method by which we might acquire a rightness of character in the cultivation and the exercise of its bidden virtues. The legal right which obedience confers is one thing. The personal rightness which obedience confers is another. Obedience for a legal right is everywhere denounced in the New Testament, but obedience for a personal rightness is everywhere urged. For the one end, the law has altogether lost its efficacy; and we, in our own utter inability to substantiate its claims, must seek to be justified only by the righteousness of Christ. For the other end, the law retains its office as a perfect guide and exemplar of all virtue; and; we, empowered by strength from on high to follow its dictates, must seek to be sanctified by the transference of its bidden uprightness upon our own characters. It is no longer the purchase-money by which to buy your right of entry to the marriage supper of the Lamb; but it is the wedding garment, without which you will never be seated among the beatitudes of that festival. To be meet in law, and without violence done to the jurisprudence of heaven, we must be invested by faith with the righteousness of Christ. To be meet in character, and without offence or violence to the spirit or the taste of heavens society, we must be invested with the graces of our own personal righteousness. (T. Chalmers, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law] Where the law ends, Christ begins. The law ends with representative sacrifices; Christ begins with the real offering. The law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ; it cannot save, but it leaves us at his door, where alone salvation is to be found. Christ as an atoning sacrifice for sin, was the grand object of the whole sacrificial code of Moses; his passion and death were the fulfilment of its great object and design. Separate this sacrificial death of Christ from the law, and the law has no meaning, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins: wherefore the Messiah is represented as saying, Sacrifice and observing thou didst not desire; burnt-offering and sin-offering thou hast not required; then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will; a body hast thou prepared me, Ps 40:6, Ps 40:7; He 10:4-10; which proves that God never designed that the sacrifices of the law should be considered the atonement for sin, but a type or representative of that atonement; and that THE atonement was the sacrifice offered by Christ. Thus he was the END of the law, in respect to its sacrifices. And, as sacrifices were offered merely to procure pardon of sin, righteousness, or justification, Christ is the end of the law for this justification to every one that believeth on him, as dying for their offences, and rising again for their justification, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Therefore every Jew who rejected Christ rejected salvation, and that very salvation which the law witnessed and required, and which could not be had but through Christ alone.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He proves that the Jews were ignorant of the righteousness of God, because they were ignorant of Christ, the true
end of the law. Christ is the end of the law: q. d. The law was given for this end, that sinners being thereby brought to the knowledge of their sins, and their lost and damned estate, by reason thereof, should fly to Christ and his righteousness for refuge; see Gal 3:19, 24. Or else: Christ is the end of the law; i.e. the perfection and consummation thereof. The word is taken in this sense, 1Ti 1:5. He perfected the ceremonial law, as being the substance whereof all the ceremonies of the law were shadows; they all referred to him as their scope and end. He perfected also the moral law, partly by his active obedience, fulfilling all the righteousness thereof, partly by his passive obedience, bearing the curse and punishment of the law, which was due to us. Whatever the law required that we should do or suffer, he hath perfected it on our behalf: see Rom 8:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. For Christ is the endtheobject or aim.
of the law forjustifying
righteousness to every onethat believeththat is, contains within Himself all that thelaw demands for the justification of such as embrace Him, whether Jewor Gentile (Ga 3:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For Christ is the end of the law,…. The apostle here observes that to them which had they known, would have regulated their zeal, removed their ignorance and set them right, in that which they stumbled at, and fell. By the “law” here, is not meant the ceremonial law, of which, indeed, they were all very zealous, and of which Christ also was the end in many respects; he was the final cause of it, or that for the sake of which it was; it had not been given had it not been for him; all its institutions, ordinances, and sacrifices, were on his account: they were all shadows of him, and he the body and substance of them; he was the end or mark and scope at which they all aimed; every type looked to him, and every offering directed the worshipper to him; he was the terminus of it, to whom it was to reach, and beyond whom it was not to go; it was a schoolmaster for instruction and direction until Christ came, and no longer. He was the fulfilling end of it, every thing in it had its accomplishment in him; and then lastly, he put an end to it, he disannulled it because of its after weakness and unprofitableness; he blotted out this hand writing of ordinances, and entirely abolished this law of commandments; but then Christ was not the end of this law for righteousness; Christ’s obedience to it is no part of justifying righteousness, especially not to everyone that believes, not to the Gentiles who never were under any obligation to observe it: the moral law is here designed, and when Christ is said to be the end of it, the meaning is not that he was the end of its being given; for that was to be a rule of righteousness and life to men, and a ministration of death in case of disobedience: or that he was the scope of this law, though the Syriac version renders it , “the scope” of the law is the Messiah, the mark at which it aimed, or which it directs persons to; for the law does not direct to Christ at all, in any way; it requires and insists upon a perfect righteousness, but gives not the least hint of the righteousness of Christ, nor does it in any form direct unto it; by it is the knowledge of sin, but no knowledge of a Saviour from sin; not the law, but the Gospel directs and encourages sensible sinners to believe in Christ and be saved; on the contrary, the law is a killing letter, and the ministration of condemnation and death; but Christ is either the consuming or consummating, the destroying or fulfilling end of the law. He is the destroying end of the law, not as to the nature, being, matter and substance of it, which is invariable and eternal, and is not, and cannot be made void by the doctrine of faith; nor as to the true use of it; but as a covenant of works, as to the ministry of it by Moses, and as to its curse and condemnation. Though I rather think the latter is here meant, namely, that Christ is the fulfilling end of the law, since it is added,
for righteousness: for the bringing in an everlasting righteousness; a righteousness justifying in the sight of God; a righteousness sinners wanted, and could not obtain of themselves, and could never be obtained but by a perfect fulfilling of the law: this Christ has done partly by the conformity of his nature, being exactly like that, and what it requires holy, just, and good; and partly by perfect obedience of his life to all its precepts; and also by suffering the penalty of it, death, in the room and stead of all his people; and so the whole righteousness of the law is fulfilled by him, and he becomes the end of it, for a justifying righteousness before God,
to everyone that believes: not to him that works for life, and in order to obtain a righteousness of his own; nor to the Jew only, but also to the Gentile, even to everyone, be who he will, that has faith in Christ; not that faith is either the matter, cause, or condition of righteousness, but this righteousness is only revealed unto, and received by the believer, and can only be pleaded by him, as his justifying righteousness. Moreover, this phrase is descriptive of the persons to whom Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, and suggests that for whomsoever he has fulfilled the law, in order to bring in for them a justifying righteousness, faith in consequence is given to them, to receive and embrace it, and enjoy all the comfort and privileges of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The end of the law ( ). Christ put a stop to the law as a means of salvation (Rom 6:14; Rom 9:31; Eph 2:15; Col 2:14) as in Lu 16:16. Christ is the goal or aim of the law (Gal 3:24). Christ is the fulfilment of the law (Matt 5:17; Rom 13:10; 1Tim 1:5). But here (Denney) Paul’s main idea is that Christ ended the law as a method of salvation for “every one that believeth” whether Jew or Gentile. Christ wrote finis on law as a means of grace.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The end of the law [ ] . First in the sentence as the emphatic point of thought. Expositors differ as to the sense. 1. The aim. Either that the intent of the law was to make men righteous, which was accomplished in Christ, or that the law led to Him as a pedagogue (Gal 3:24). 2. The fulfillment, as Mt 5:17. 3. The termination. To believers in Christ the law has no longer legislative authority to say, “Do this and live; do this or die” (Morison). The last is preferable. Paul is discussing two materially exclusive systems, the one based on doing, the other on believing. The system of faith, represented by Christ, brings to an end and excludes the system of law; and the Jews, in holding by the system of law, fail of the righteousness which is by faith. Compare Gal 2:16; Gal 3:2 – 14.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For Christ is the end of the law,” (telos gar nomou) “For Christ exists (as) the end (final purpose) of the law;” the purpose, object, or aim to which the law or any law was directed. The law was, like a schoolmaster, like a road-sign, continually pointing to Christ as the coming Redeemer, Gal 3:19-24. But egotistic, self-righteous men, from Adam and Eve’s efforts in Eden, have tried to acquire righteousness by their own deeds, Tit 3:5.
2) “For righteousness,” (eis dikaiosunen) “into righteousness;” Faith in Jesus Christ is the way into the righteousness of God – not baptism – not reformation – not good works; “The end of the law is Christ, unto righteousness;” not good works unto righteousness! Mat 5:17.
3) “To everyone that believeth,” (panti to pistenuonti) “to or toward everyone who believes,” or to everyone that trusts in him, Gal 3:10; Gal 3:13; Gal 3:24-26; Act 10:43; Rom 1:16.
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS – RUIN OF MANY
“A gentleman in our late civil wars,” says Cowley, “when his quarters were beaten up by the enemy, was taken prisoner, and lost his life afterwards only by staying to put on a band and adjust his periwig; he would escape like a person of quality, or not at all, and died the noble martyr of ceremony and gentility.” Poor fool! and yet he is as bad who waits till he is dressed in the rags of his own fancied fitness before he will come to Jesus. He will die a martyr to pride and self-righteousness. There is a ship out at sea, and one of the crew says, “I know that we shall not drift far out of our course.” “Why?” “Because we have such a big anchor on board.” Why, an anchor on board is no good to anybody! It is when you “let go” the anchor, and lose sight of it, that is good for something, to have something of your own. 0 self-will! God will have salvation to be all of grace, and man will have it of debt. These efforts of men for their own salvation are deadly efforts. God will save them only one way, and Man says, “No, I will compound my own physic.” Can he ever get well in such a way as that? God says, “I will forgive,” Man says, “I will try and deserve to be forgiven” –as if that could be possible.
-Spurgeon
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4 . For the end of the law is Christ, etc. The word completion, (321) seems not to me unsuitable in this place; and [ Erasmus ] has rendered it perfection: but as the other reading is almost universally approved, and is not inappropriate, readers, for my part, may retain it.
The Apostle obviates here an objection which might have been made against him; for the Jews might have appeared to have kept the right way by depending on the righteousness of the law. It was necessary for him to disprove this false opinion; and this is what he does here. He shows that he is a false interpreter of the law, who seeks to be justified by his own works; because the law had been given for this end, — to lead us as by the hand to another righteousness: nay, whatever the law teaches, whatever it commands, whatever it promises, has always a reference to Christ as its main object; and hence all its parts ought to be applied to him. But this cannot be done, except we, being stripped of all righteousness, and confounded with the knowledge of our sin, seek gratuitous righteousness from him alone.
It hence follows, that the wicked abuse of the law was justly reprehended in the Jews, who absurdly made an obstacle of that which was to be their help: nay, it appears that they had shamefully mutilated the law of God; for they rejected its soul, and seized on the dead body of the letter. For though the law promises reward to those who observe its righteousness, it yet substitutes, after having proved all guilty, another righteousness in Christ, which is not attained by works, but is received by faith as a free gift. Thus the righteousness of faith, (as we have seen in the first chapter,) receives a testimony from the law. We have then here a remarkable passage, which proves that the law in all its parts had a reference to Christ; and hence no one can rightly understand it, who does not continually level at this mark.
(321) “Complementum — the complement,” the filling up, the completion. The word τέλος, “end,” is used in various ways, as signifying — 1. The terminations of any thing, either of evils, or of life, etc., Mat 10:22; Joh 13:1; — 2. Completion or fulfillment, Luk 22:37; 1Ti 1:5; — 3. The issue, the effect, the consequence, the result, Rom 6:21; 1Pe 1:9; 2Co 11:15; — 4. Tribute or custom, Rom 13:7; — 5. The chief thing, summary or substance, 1Pe 3:8
The meaning of the word depends on what is connected with it. The end of evils, or of life, is their termination; the end of a promise is its fulfillment; the end of a command, its performance or obedience; the end of faith is salvation. In such instances, the general idea is the result, or the effect, or the consequence. Now the law may be viewed as an economy, comprising the whole Jewish law, not perfect, but introductory; in this view Christ may be said to be its end — its perfection or “its landing place.” But we may also regard the law in its moral character, as the rule and condition of life; then the end of the law is its fulfillment, the performance of what it requires to attain life: and Christ in this respect is its end, having rendered to it perfect obedience. This last meaning is most consistent with the words which follow, and with the Apostle’s argument. The first view is taken by [ Chrysostom ], [ Beza ], [ Turrettin ], as well as [ Calvin ]; the second, by [ Mede ] , [ Stuart ] , and [ Chalmers ]. There is really not much difference in the two views; only the sequel of the verse, “for righteousness to every one who believes,” and the opposite sentiment in the next verse, “the man who doeth these shall live in (or through) them,” seem to favor the latter view. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) The end of the law.End, in the proper sense of termination or conclusion. Christ is that which brings the functions of the Law to an end by superseding it. The Law pursues a man until he takes refuge in Christ; then it says, Thou hast found thine asylum; I shall trouble thee no more, now thou art wise; now thou art safe. (Bengel.)
For righteousness to every one that believeth.So that every one who believes may obtain righteousness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. End righteousness The end of the law is that full and final result which the fulfilled law would accomplish in the perfectly fulfilling man; namely, perfect justification founded on his perfect righteousness. But let man commit the slightest transgression and, alas! he is done for. Law can never justify him, but must eternally condemn. But, says the apostle, Christ now can step in and accomplish the law’s perfect end.
Believeth Same as the submitted of Rom 10:3. Man must in faith submit himself to Christ in order to the end. And this the Jew ignored, and fell.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For Christ (Messiah) is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one who believes.’
For if they would only recognise it their Messiah had come, the Messiah (Christos) Who ‘is the end of the Law unto righteousness to everyone who believes.’ This phrase can be interpreted in two ways, for the Greek word telos can signify either ‘the aim, final intention of the Law’ or ‘the cessation of the Law’. Both are in fact true, although the second is more likely, because in the Scriptures telos usually means ‘cessation’ (it was different in external Greek literature). For the fact is that Paul only uses the first sense once, in 1Ti 1:5.
Taking the first meaning Paul would be saying that the Law pointed forward to Christ both in its prophecies and its ritual. When men’s attitude of heart was right, temporary righteousness was provided through sacrifices and offerings, but it had awaited the Supreme Sacrifice of Christ to make this truly effective (Rom 3:24-25). So the whole system of sacrifices had pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice of the Messiah, as He bore our sins in His own body on the cross (Rom 3:25; 1Pe 2:24; Isa 53:11). For, as Rom 3:21 has brought out, ‘a righteousness of God has now been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets’. That is, the Scriptures had pointed forward to this righteousness of God obtainable through faith in Christ.
But in another way Christ’s offering of Himself can be seen as having ‘rendered the Law inoperative’ as a way of passing judgment on men; as having ‘ended’ the Law, because through His offering He had provided the gift of righteousness for men, a righteousness which wholly satisfied the Law (Rom 5:15-19). For those who received Christ (the Messiah), God’s free gift of righteousness was provided, a righteousness that made them acceptable to God. Then the Law could no longer point the finger at them. Its reign was over. It was not that the Law was totally got rid of. It still fulfils its task of passing judgment on men. And it can still be a guide to man. Rather in Christ it was fulfilled. He vindicated it by His complete obedience to it. Thus it was seen as fulfilled in all who are His. In support of interpreting as ‘cessation of the Law’ are a number of Scriptures which indicate the same. ‘He abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments given in ordinances’ (Eph 2:15). ‘Having blotted out the bond written in ordinances, which was against us, which was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to His cross’ (Col 2:14). Thus it is made clear that through His offering of Himself, the power of the Law to bring Christians into judgment had ceased.
There is no more important thought than this, that the world is divided into two. On the one hand are those who are ‘under law’, whether that of the Torah or that of conscience. They are all subject to condemnation. On the other are those who are under Christ. For them there is no condemnation. They are accounted as righteous in God’s sight.
‘Unto righteousness.’ Compare ‘unto salvation’ (Rom 10:1; Rom 10:10). The purpose of Christ’s coming was in order to provide man with a righteousness which would stand the test in the Day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom 2:5), the Day when God judges the secrets of men (Rom 2:16).
Note On ‘The End Of The Law’.
Taking the meaning as signifying cessation, we must recognise what this means. For example, that the Law was not simply to be written off is made clear in that Jesus Himself had said of it that ‘until heaven and earth pass away not one yod or tittle of it would ever pass way until all of it was fulfilled’ (Mat 5:18), and the reference to heaven and earth passing away underlines its permanent nature. Furthermore James stresses that as the perfect Law of liberty it is important for seeing oneself as one is and with a view to being obedient to it (Jas 1:23-25), whilst Paul himself considered that to love one’s neighbour as oneself, a requirement for all Christians, was a fulfilling of the Law (Gal 5:14). Such love is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Indeed he himself said that the Law was ‘holy and righteous and good’ (Rom 7:12) and that ‘if a man use it lawfully the Law is good’ (1Ti 1:8). Compare also Gal 6:2; 1Co 9:19-21.
Nor are we to think that the Law was once the method of salvation, but was now being replaced. Paul’s whole point in Rom 10:2 is that the Jews had misunderstood the purpose of the Law. They had been ‘ignorant of God’s righteousness’. He stresses that salvation has never been obtainable by observing the Law because the standard of God’s righteousness is too high. It has always been dependent on looking to the mercy and compassion of God (which in fact the Law itself had pointed out). The Law was rather given as a guide to living and enjoying a full life (Rom 10:5). It was not given as a means of obtaining eternal life. It was given by a God Who had graciously redeemed Israel, and had already chosen them (Exo 19:5-6), indicating what He now therefore required of them as a result (Exo 20:2). It was a mind and conscience shaper, a guide to true living. It had, of course, included the ritual means by which men could come to God, but as the prophets had emphasised, that was only effective in so far as it came from the heart (Isa 1:11-18).
It was man who made the observance of it central to acceptability before God in the sense that by observing it they were putting God under an obligation. Thus Paul is not saying that the Law was once the method of salvation but has now been replaced by the Messiah. Indeed its judgmental nature as outlined in Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:19 has always been true, and thus it could never in itself save. What he is saying has ended has been the ability of the Law to condemn those who are God’s, because in the Messiah provision has been made for removal of that condemnation. As Paul has made clear in chapter 4, acceptability to God has always been dependent on faith, even as early as Abraham. It was those who sought God with a true heart looking to His mercy who found salvation. The Law was simply a guide to that end.
Certainly we may speak of a ‘dispensation of the Law’. For since Moses the Law (the Torah), and later its interpretation in the Prophets, had been the central means of knowing God, and that is why salvation had mainly been limited to Israel. It had, however, always been available to proselytes (Exo 12:48) and in later times an Israel scattered throughout the known world had gathered proselytes on a wider scale. (Indeed Jesus’ complaint against many of the Scribes and Pharisees was that they led proselytes astray – Mat 23:15). But the prophets had always insisted that the ritual Law was meaningless unless carried out by those who were obedient to God and were looking to Him for forgiveness (e.g. Isa 1:11-18), and that the truly righteous in Israel would ever be a remnant (e.g. Isa 6:13; Zec 13:9). And salvation had always been dependent on the mercy and grace of God (Exo 20:6; Exo 34:6-7; etc), with the Law acting as a guide and providing a means of approaching God if used rightly.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 10:4. Christ is the end of the law, &c. Here the Jew’s argument is supposed. St. Paul, who was well acquainted with the notions of the Jews, and had often disputed with them, knowing well what the Jew would allege, for the sake of brevity puts in his answer, without formally stating the Jew’s argument; and yet from the Apostle we may probably collect what was the Jew’s argument. He insisted that Christ was the end or design of the law in the following sense: that is to say, that the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom, and an interest in the privileges of it, depended upon, or was the result of their submission to or observance of, the law of Moses. Against this the Apostle argues, that by obedience to the law the Jews could never have procured the coming and kingdom of Christ, or redemption by him. In that way, (Rom 10:6-7.) they could never have brought down Christ from heaven, or have raised him from the dead; it is the grace and power of God alone must do that; which they have done; and in order to an interest in the privileges and blessings of his kingdom, have left nothing on our part to be done, but faith in the heart by the operation of the Spirit of God (which the Divine Spirit is willing to accomplish), and a practice and profession suitable to it. Compare Rom 10:9 and Gal 3:23-25. This and the following verses may be paraphrased thus: “Thus far indeed the Jews think justly, that the end and design of the law is to introduce the kingdom and dispensation of Christ the Messiah: not, as they suppose, to procure the blessings of his kingdom by the observance of the law; but Christ is the end of the law, as the law leads and obliges us to fly to that justification, or way of life and salvation, which is open and free to all who believe; Rom 10:5. For the way ofgaining a title to life and salvation by the law, as Moses describes it, is perfect immaculate obedience; a way in which no people in the world, not the Jews themselves, can hope to procure the blessings of the kingdom of the Messiah. But the way of salvation, which is by faith in Christ, runs in a quite different strain; Rom 10:6-7. It forbids the supposition of procuring the grace of redemption by any works of righteousness which we can do: for, in order to our redemption, Christ was first to come down from heaven, and to be raised from the dead after he was crucified, otherwise he could be no Saviour to us. And what man, through the perfection of his obedience to the law, could acquire either power or interest enough to bring Christ down from the heavenly mansions to this earth; or to loose the bands of death, restore him again to life, and exalt him to God’s right hand, to be the author and captain of our salvation? Such mighty effects are not to be accomplished by our works; and therefore the way of salvation by faith very rightly teaches us to disclaim such vain impracticable schemes. On the contrary, it instructs us, Rom 10:8 that the mercy and kindness of God our Saviour has cleared all difficulties on his part, and reduced the affair to the lowest and easiest conditions on ours, by leaving nothing for us to do, but what through the inspiration of the Spiritof God may be performed by our heart and mouth:Imean, that faith which I preach among the Gentiles, and which is set forth, Rom 10:9.” It may be proper to observe here, that the Apostle does not quote Moses, Deu 30:12-14, by way of proving the point, but only alludes to the manner of expression; as what might with no less, if not with greater propriety, be applied to the Gospel than the law. This appears from the explication he inserts, as, that is, to bring down Christ from heaven;that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead;that is, the word of faith which we preach. Which explication he adds, to shew that, though he uses the words of Moses, yet he does not suppose that Moses is discoursing upon the same subject with himself. See Locke, who gives a different exposition of these verses, which, for the satisfaction of the reader, shall be mentioned on Rom 10:9.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 10:4 . For the validity of the law has come to an end in Christ, in order that every believer may be a partaker of righteousness . Herewith Paul, for the further confirmation of what was said in Rom 10:3 , lays down the great principle of salvation, from the non-knowledge of which among the Jews that blinded and perverted striving after righteousness flowed.
, which is placed first with great emphasis, is applied to Christ, in so far as, by virtue of His redemptive death (Gal 3:13 ; Gal 4:5 ), the divine dispensation of salvation has been introduced, in which the basis of the procuring of salvation is no longer, as in the old theocracy, the Mosaic , but faith, whereby the law has therefore ceased to be the regulative principle for the attainment of righteousness. Only this view of , end, conclusion (adopted after Augustine by most of the modern expositors), is conformable to what follows, where the essentially different principles of the old and new are stated. For its agreement with the doctrinal system of the apostle, see Rom 7:1 ff. Contrary to the meaning of the word (even in 1Ti 1:5 ), and contrary to the inherent relation of what follows, Origen, Erasmus, Vatablus, Elsner, Homberg, Estius, Wolf, Ch. Schmidt, Jatho, and several others, take it as: fulfilment of the law (“quicquid exigebat lex moralis praestitit perfectissime,” Calovius), which many dogmatic expositors understood of the satisfactio activa , or of the activa and passiva together (Calovius). Linguistically faultless, but at the same time not corresponding to the connection, is the interpretation of Chrysostom, Theophylact, Melancthon, Beza, Michaelis, and others, that the object and aim of the law was the making men righteous, and that this was accomplished through Christ; or (Theodoret, Toletus, Vorstius, Grotius, Wetstein, Loesner, Heumann, Klee, Glckler, Krummacher), that Christ was called the object and aim of the law, because everything in the law, as the (Gal 3:24 ), led up to Him; “quicquid praecipiat, quicquid promittat, semper Christum habet pro scopo,” Calvin. Observe further, that must be the definite historical person that appeared in Jesus , and not the promised Saviour generally , without regard to whether and in whose person He appeared (Hofmann), an abstraction which would have been impossible to Paul, particularly here, where all righteousness is traced back only to definite faith in contrast to works as impossible as is the reference combined with it, of to any law whatever, no law has validity any longer, if the promised Saviour be at hand. See, in opposition to this, immediately below, Rom 10:5 ff.
. .] aim , for which Christ is the end of the law: in order that every one who believes may obtain righteousness . The principal stress lies on ., as the opposite of that which the law required in order to righteousness; see Rom 10:5-6 ; Rom 3:21 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1889
CHRIST THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Rom 10:4. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
ZEAL, if directed to a good object, is highly commendable: as the Apostle says, It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. In reference to the concerns of religion, it is indispensably necessary for all who would approve themselves to God: Whatever our hand findeth to do, we should do it with our might. But in proportion to its value when operating in a good cause, is the danger of it, when engaged on the side of error. This appears from the havoc which Paul in his unconverted state made of the Christian Church; purely from a desire to render, as he thought, an acceptable service to the Lord. Such, alas! is yet the zeal of too many: it is well-intentioned, but blind, and ignorant, and injurious: nevertheless, such a zeal, conscientiously exercised, at all times deserves respect, and should be treated with respect even by those who suffer from it. The conduct of the Apostle towards the unbelieving Jews was, in this point of view, worthy of universal imitation. He was constrained to tell them that they were in error, and that their error was replete with danger to their souls: but he told them of it in terms as conciliatory as love could dictate, or language could afford. He assured them, that they were objects of his tenderest regard, and that he felt the deepest anxiety for their welfare. He even bare testimony in their behalf, that, in the zeal they manifested, they had an unfeigned desire to serve God: but unhappily they were mistaken in their views of the Mosaic law, which was never intended to afford them a justifying righteousness, but was designed rather to lead them to that very Jesus whom they so hated and despised, and who was indeed the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
The information here given to them is of vital importance to every child of man. To place it in a just point of view, we propose to shew,
I.
What is that righteousness which God has provided for fallen man
In the verse preceding our text, mention is twice made of the righteousness of God; by which expression we are not to understand that attribute of the Deity which we call righteousness, but that way of obtaining righteousness and salvation which God has provided for sinful men. In this sense the expression is used in other parts of this epistle, especially in the third chapter; where it is said, The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is unto all, and upon all, them that believe [Note: Rom 3:21-22.]. But,
What kind of righteousness is this?
[However much God may graciously desire the salvation of men, we cannot for a moment imagine, that for the attainment of it he will disregard the claims, and violate the rights, of justice, or holiness, or truth. We may be sure, that, if he has provided a righteousness for man, that righteousness will be found consistent with all his perfections, and with the honour of his moral government. How such a righteousness could be devised, was far beyond the reach of finite wisdom to conceive: but Gods wisdom is infinite; and he has, by the substitution of his own Son in the place of sinners, provided precisely such a righteousness as was worthy of God, and suited to the necessities of man. The law required obedience, and denounced death as the penalty of one single transgression. Man transgressed its commands, and became obnoxious to its curse. Before he could be restored to the favour of his God, the penalty must be inflicted, and the obedience paid. But this it was impossible for man to do, seeing that the penalty was everlasting death; and man was despoiled of all power to do the will of God. Therefore God was pleased to send his co-equal, co-eternal Son into the world, that, as mans substitute, he might endure the curse which we had merited, and render the obedience which we owed. Thus, by this wonderful contrivance, every obstacle to mans salvation is removed. Must the penalty denounced against sin be inflicted? It has been inflicted on Gods only dear Son. Must the law be fulfilled in all its extent? It has been fulfilled to the uttermost by him. So that to those who have him for their surety, there is a plea in arrest of judgment; a plea, which God himself will admit, as just, and adequate, and perfectly consistent with his own honour.]
And where shall we find this righteousness?
[It is treasured up for us in Christ Jesus; who, having been sent into the world, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness [Note: Dan 9:24.], executed the work assigned him: and, being now constituted the Head of his Church, and having all fulness of spiritual blessings treasured up in him for our use, he imparts this righteousness to every one who truly believes in him. Indeed, he is himself made righteousness unto them; as St. Paul has said, He is of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness [Note: 1Co 1:30.]. This shews how we are to understand that declaration of the Prophet Jeremiah, This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness [Note: Jer 23:6.]. We are not merely to compliment our Saviour with this title, but really and truly to rely upon him in this particular view, as possessing in himself all that righteousness whereby we are to be justified, and as imparting it to all, who are united to him by faith. In a word, we must all look unto him in order to obtain salvation, and, with an express recollection, that all which we have is not in ourselves, but in him, we must say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength [Note: Isa 45:22; Isa 45:24.].]
What an agreement there is between the Old and the New Testament in relation to this righteousness, will appear, whilst we shew,
II.
How the law itself directs us to it
Had the Jews understood the true import of their own law, they would never have rejected Christ: for he was the very scope and end,
1.
Of the moral law
[The law, when given to man in innocence, was intended to justify him, if he should continue to obey it to the termination of the period destined for his probation. But when once he had fallen, there was no possibility of his ever obtaining justification by it. We, as partakers of his guilt and corruption, are in the same predicament with him: in him we have died; and, if ever we obtain life, we must seek it in the way pointed out to him, even in that Seed of the woman that was in due time to bruise the serpents head. St. Paul tells us, that, if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law [Note: Gal 3:21.]. But this being impossible, (since man in his fallen state could not fulfil it, nor could God, consistently with his own holiness, relax its demands,) God re-published it from Mount Sinai, to shew unto men how greatly they had departed from it, and to drive them by its terrors to that Refuge which he had prepared for them. That these were the true ends for which the law was given, is expressly asserted: St. Paul puts the question, Wherefore then serveth the law? And he answers it by saying, that it was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should, come to whom the promise was made. It was given to convince them of their transgressions, to stop their mouths with a sense of their guilt and misery [Note: Gal 3:19. with Rom 3:19-20.]; and to shut them up unto the faith that should afterwards be revealed. In a word, instead of ever being given to afford a ground of hope to men by their obedience to it, it was intended to be a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith [Note: Gal 3:22-24.]. Haw it effected this, may be seen in the Apostle Paul, whose hopes it utterly destroyed, and whom it constrained to seek acceptance through Christ alone [Note: Rom 7:9.].]
2.
Of the ceremonial law
[This, it is true, was appointed to make an atonement for sins, so far as to screen the transgressor from the penalties that were to be inflicted by the civil magistrate. But it never really took away sin: it was not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins [Note: Heb 10:4.]. The annual repetition of the same sacrifices shewed, that they could not make a man perfect as pertaining to the conscience: they were, in fact, only remembrances of sins made every year, in order to direct men to that Great Sacrifice, which should in due time be offered, and which alone could effect reconciliation for us with our offended God [Note: Heb 9:9-10; Heb 10:3-4.]. The very circumstance of the ceremonial law making no provision for the expiation of presumptuous sin, shewed that it could not answer the necessities of fallen man [Note: Num 15:30.]. Hence the Apostle tells us, that the law was only a shadow of good things to come [Note: Heb 10:1.]; a shadow, of which Christ was the body [Note: Col 2:17.]. Agreeably to this, the most noted types of Christ are expressly applied to him, as having in his own person fulfilled their office, and abrogated their use. The paschal lamb proclaimed to Israel, that unless their houses were sprinkled with its blood, they would fall by the sword of the destroying angel: and St. Paul says to us, that Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us [Note: 1Co 5:7.]. Again, the lamb offered every morning and evening in sacrifice, we are told, shadowed forth the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world [Note: Rev 13:8.], even that Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world [Note: Joh 1:29.]. In a word, all the sacrifices proclaim to us this truth, that without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Thus it appears, that neither the moral nor ceremonial law could provide us with any righteousness wherein we might stand before God; but that both the one and the other directed us to Christ, in whom alone all the seed of Israel can be justified, and in whom alone they must glory [Note: Isa 45:25.].]
But it remains yet to be inquired,
III.
In what way we are to be made partakers of it
In reference to this there exist amongst us, even as among the Jews, the most fatal mistakes.
The great mass of those who feel a concern about their souls, seek for righteousness by the works of the law
[As for those who really think that their own works have such an exalted merit in them, as to deserve heaven of themselves without any reference whatever to Christ, we would fondly hope, that they are very rarely to be found amongst us. But there are two ways in which men, whilst they profess some reliance upon Christ, do in reality make their own works the foundation of their hopes; namely, by looking for salvation by their works for Christs sake, or by Christ for their works sake. There are a great many shades of difference between persons who may be arranged under these two heads, and many nice distinctions have been drawn in order to shew the various delusions which men harbour in their minds in reference to this subject: but all this different classes may be safely reduced to these two.
Let us pause a moment, to consider whether we ourselves do not belong to the one or other of them.
There are many who, as we have said, seek salvation by their works for Christs sake. They will not go so far as to say, that Christ has done nothing for mans salvation: on the contrary, they think that they are much indebted to him; for that to him they owe it, that their imperfect obedience shall be accepted for their justification before God. They do indeed suppose that their repentance, their reformation of life, their alms-deeds, and their attendance on divine ordinances, will procure to them the favour of God: but then it is not because these things are absolutely meritorious, so as to deserve and purchase heaven; but because the Lord Jesus Christ has procured a relaxation of the perfect law of God, and obtained for them that their sincere obedience shall be accepted instead of perfect obedience. And, if their obedience should not be altogether sufficient for the desired end, they expect he will add a portion of his merits to theirs, so that there shall be no deficiency upon the whole.
But a very little knowledge of Gods perfect law is sufficient to dispel this fatal delusion. The law neither is mitigated, nor can be mitigated: it never can require less than it did. It required of man to love God with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and to love his neighbour as himself. But from which of these has God released us? or from which, consistently with his own honour, can he release us? The law remains the same as ever it was, both in its requirements and its penalties: and, as our works never did, nor ever can, come up to its demands, it can never do any thing but denounce a curse against us, as long as we continue under it: as the Apostle says, As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them [Note: Gal 3:10.]. Whilst therefore it curses us, it of course can never justify: nor can our defective obedience to it form any part of our justifying righteousness before God.
When men are driven from this refuge, they then flee to the other, of which we have spoken, and look for justification by Christ for their works sake. They see that in Christ alone can be found such a righteousness as the law requires; and they now look to him as their righteousness. But yet they dare not go to him, as it were, with all their sins upon them; they think they must wash themselves first with the tears of penitence, and make some compensation for their past iniquities by newness of life: and then they hope that he will accept them, and present them faultless before his heavenly Father. And if they cannot see in themselves such a measure of penitence and reformation as they think necessary to recommend them to him, they dare not go to him: they think it would be presumption in them to trust in him: they cannot conceive how his mercy should extend to such wretches as they see themselves to be. On the other hand, if by much prayer and diligence they have attained some measure of the goodness which they are striving after, then, I say, they can go to him with courage, and feel a comfortable persuasion that he will accept them. Thus they found their hopes, not simply on his merits, but on some measure of goodness in themselves, which they carry with them as a price to purchase his favour. But the Scriptures tell us, that we must go to receive salvation at Christs hands, without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.]: that salvation must be wholly of grace, from first to last [Note: Rom 11:6.]: that we must go without any work whatever, to be justified by him as ungodly [Note: Rom 4:5.]: and that, if we attempt to carry to him any thing of our own, either as a joint ground of our hope, or as a warrant for our hope, in him, he shall profit us nothing [Note: Gal 5:2; Gal 5:4.].]
But we must be made partakers of Christs righteousness solely and entirely by faith
[This is asserted so strongly, and so frequently, that one can scarcely conceive how any one who has ever read the Scriptures should entertain a doubt of it. Nor is it asserted only, but maintained frequently, in a long course of argument in direct opposition to the Jewish notion of salvation by works [Note: Rom 4:1-14.]. The reasons for it also are stated again and again. Salvation is by faith, that it may be by grace [Note: Rom 4:16.]. It is by faith, lest any man should boast [Note: Eph 2:8-9.]. It is by faith, that the whole universe may glory in Christ alone [Note: 1Co 1:31.]. But the reproof which Paul gave to Peter at Antioch puts this matter in the clearest light. Peter had preached to the Gentiles, salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some Judaizing teachers, who, whilst they professed to believe in Christ, were zealous for the observance of the Mosaic law, coming thither, he feared to offend them; and, to ingratiate himself with them, he required the Gentiles to conform to some Mosaic rites to which they had never before been subjected, and from which the Jews themselves, had they known their liberty, were free. We are not told that Peter promised them salvation by these works: but he evidently taught them, that, though Christ was the only Saviour, they might recommend themselves to him, and confirm their interest in him, by the observance of these rites. Thus, in fact, he adulterated and undermined the Gospel, and endangered the eternal welfare of all his followers. On this account St. Paul blamed and reproved him before the whole Church: and the reprehension which he gave to Peter has been transmitted to us, that we may see of what importance it is to maintain the doctrine of salvation by faith, uncontaminated and undisguised. Hear the account which Paul himself gives of it: When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified [Note: Gal 2:14-16,]. This shews us, that nothing is to be blended with, and nothing to be added to, the faith of Christ; but that all who are justified, must be justified simply, and solely, by faith in Christ.
We must not be understood to say, that good works are not necessary after we are justified; for they are indispensably necessary, to prove the sincerity of our faith: but it is in reference to the matter of justification only that we now speak: and there they must be excluded altogether. Christ is our only righteousness: and it is b faith only that we can ever apprehend him.]
The whole state of the Apostles argument in the passage before us, leads us to conclude with the following advice:
1.
Seek not to establish any righteousness of your own
[Self-righteousness is deeply rooted in the heart of man. Its workings are numerous and subtle: and the danger arising from it is more than can be conceived. It robs God of his glory: it subverts the very foundations of the Gospel: it usurps the office of the Saviour: it invades the unalienable prerogatives of God. Do not think it a light sin. Do not hastily conclude that you are free from it. Search and try your hearts: see what is the ground of your hopes: see whether you are willing to go to Christ as the very chief of sinners; or whether you are not rather wishing to find some worthiness in yourselves, that may serve as a ground of confidence in your approaches to him, and as a foundation of your hope of acceptance with him. For be assured, that if you stumble at this stumbling-stone, you will frustrate the grace of God, and cause the death of Christ, as far as respects yourselves, to be in vain [Note: Gal 2:21.].]
2.
Submit humbly and cheerfully to the righteousness of Christ
[Strange indeed is it that it should be any act of submission to believe in Christ: but it is in reality such a submission as our proud hearts are never brought to without much difficulty. We may see how a spirit of pride wrought in Naaman, when he was told by the prophet to wash in Jordan, and be clean. Had he been told to do some great thing, he would have complied immediately: but to wash in Jordan appeared to be so inadequate a remedy, that he would not condescend to try it. Thus, when we say to men, Believe, and be saved, we seem to propose to them a remedy of no value. Were we to lay down rules for them, and tell them what penances to inflict on themselves, and what services to perform in order to the purchasing of heaven, we should find them willing to undertake whatever we might prescribe. The very thought of being their own saviours would suffice to carry them through the greatest difficulties. But when we say to them, Believe only, and ye shall be saved, they are ready, like Naaman, to turn away in a rage. This however is what we are commissioned to say: and, if an angel from heaven were to give you any direction contrary to that, he would be accursed [Note: Gal 1:8-9.]. O let your hearts be humbled before God. Methinks, when Jesus said to the lepers, Go and shew yourselves to the priests; or, when to the blind man, Go and wash in the pool of Siloam, they found no reluctance to comply. Why then should you? Can you cleanse your own leprosy? Can you open your own eyes? Can you effect your own salvation? No assuredly, you cannot. If any man could have saved himself, methinks it was the Apostle Paul. But he, disclaiming all thoughts of ever accomplishing such a work, desired to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ [Note: Php 3:9.]. Be ye, brethren, like-minded with him; and then you may, like him, be always triumphing in Christ, and be assured, that, when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory [Note: Col 3:4].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Ver. 4. For Christ is the end, &c. ] q.d. Ay, and for Christ’s sake, is the righteousness of God. But the Jews submit not to Christ, therefore not to the righteousness of God. Christ, saith Austin, is Legis finis interficiens, et perficiens. The ceremonial law he hath slain and taken out of the way: the moral law he hath fulfilled for us, and we by him, so by faith in his name, which maketh his obedience to become ours.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 13 .] The . . is now explained to be summed up in that Saviour who was declared to them in their own Scriptures . For (establishing what was last said, and at the same time unfolding the . . . in a form which rendered them inexcusable for its non-recognition) Christ is the end of the Law (i.e. the object at which the law aimed : see the similar expression 1Ti 1:5 , . Various meanings have been given to . (1) End , finis, chronological : ‘Christ is the termination of the law.’ So the latt., Augustine, Luther, al., Olsh., Meyer, Fritz., De Wette, al. But this meaning, unless understood in its pregnant sense, that Christ, who has succeeded to the law, was also the object and aim of the law, says too little. In this pregnant sense Tholuck takes the word ‘end,’ the end in time and in aim . It may be so; but I prefer simply to take in the idea of Christ being the end, i.e. aim of the law, as borne out by the following citations, in which nothing is said of the transitoriness of the law, but much of the notices which it contains of righteousness by faith in Christ. (2) Clem [92] Alex., . . . . ., De Div. Serv. 9, p. 940 P. Theodoret, Calv., Grot., al., take for ‘ accomplishment ,’ a sense included in the general meaning, but not especially treated here, the following quotations not having any reference to it. (3) The meaning, end in the sense of object or aim , above adopted, is that of the Syr., Chrys., Theophyl., Beza, Bengel, al. Chrys. observes: , , (i.e. ) , , , . . , , . , , , , , . Hom. xvii. p. 622.
[92] Clement of Alexandria, fl. 194
is here plainly the law of Moses : see Middleton in loc.) unto righteousness (i.e. so as to bring about righteousness, which the law could not do) to (dat. commodi) every one that believeth . “Had they only used the law, instead of abusing it, it would have been their best preparation for the Saviour’s advent. For indeed, by reason of man’s natural weakness, it was always powerless to justify. It was never intended to make the sinner righteous before God; but rather to impart to him a knowledge of his sinfulness, and to awaken in his heart earnest longings for some powerful deliverer. Thus used, it would have ensured the reception of the Messiah by those who now reject Him. Striving to attain to real holiness, and increasingly conscious of the impossibility of becoming holy by an imperfect obedience to the law’s requirements, they would gladly have recognized the Saviour as the end of the law for righteousness.” Ewbank.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Christ. App-98.
believeth. App-150.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4-13.] The . . is now explained to be summed up in that Saviour who was declared to them in their own Scriptures. For (establishing what was last said, and at the same time unfolding the . . . in a form which rendered them inexcusable for its non-recognition) Christ is the end of the Law (i.e. the object at which the law aimed: see the similar expression 1Ti 1:5, . Various meanings have been given to . (1) End, finis, chronological: Christ is the termination of the law. So the latt., Augustine, Luther, al., Olsh., Meyer, Fritz., De Wette, al. But this meaning, unless understood in its pregnant sense, that Christ, who has succeeded to the law, was also the object and aim of the law, says too little. In this pregnant sense Tholuck takes the word end, the end in time and in aim. It may be so; but I prefer simply to take in the idea of Christ being the end, i.e. aim of the law, as borne out by the following citations, in which nothing is said of the transitoriness of the law, but much of the notices which it contains of righteousness by faith in Christ. (2) Clem[92] Alex.,- . . . . ., De Div. Serv. 9, p. 940 P. Theodoret, Calv., Grot., al., take for accomplishment, a sense included in the general meaning, but not especially treated here,-the following quotations not having any reference to it. (3) The meaning, end in the sense of object or aim, above adopted, is that of the Syr., Chrys., Theophyl., Beza, Bengel, al. Chrys. observes: , , (i.e. ) , , , . . , , . , , , , , . Hom. xvii. p. 622.
[92] Clement of Alexandria, fl. 194
is here plainly the law of Moses: see Middleton in loc.) unto righteousness (i.e. so as to bring about righteousness, which the law could not do) to (dat. commodi) every one that believeth. Had they only used the law, instead of abusing it, it would have been their best preparation for the Saviours advent. For indeed, by reason of mans natural weakness, it was always powerless to justify. It was never intended to make the sinner righteous before God; but rather to impart to him a knowledge of his sinfulness, and to awaken in his heart earnest longings for some powerful deliverer. Thus used, it would have ensured the reception of the Messiah by those who now reject Him. Striving to attain to real holiness, and increasingly conscious of the impossibility of becoming holy by an imperfect obedience to the laws requirements, they would gladly have recognized the Saviour as the end of the law for righteousness. Ewbank.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 10:4. , the end) bestowing righteousness and life, which the law points out, but cannot give. , the end, and , the fulfilment, are synonymous; comp. 1Ti 1:5, with Rom 13:10, therefore comp. with this passage Mat 5:17. The law presses upon a man, till he flies to Christ; then even the law itself says, thou hast found a refuge. I cease to persecute thee, thou art wise, thou art safe.-, Christ) the subject is, the end of the law. [Not as Engl. Vers. Christ is the end of the law]. The predicate is, Christ (viz. , who is) in [every one that believeth; not as Engl. Vers., the end of the law to every one] etc. [Rom 10:6-7; Rom 10:9.]- , in every one that believeth) The words, in the believer, are treated at Rom 10:5, etc.: and the words, every one, at Rom 10:11, etc. , in every one, namely, of the Jews and Gentiles. The 9 chap. must not be shut within narrower limits than Paul permits in this x. chap., which is more cheerful and more expanded; and in it the word all occupies a very prominent place, Rom 10:11, etc.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 10:4
Rom 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth.-Since Christ is the end to which the law brings every one that believeth for righteousness, if one is not brought by the law to accept Christ, it shows that he has mistaken the end and purpose of the law. The same thought is expressed in these words: So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:24-25). Those who claim to follow the law, yet reject Christ, are ignorant of the end and teaching of the law. Christ in his life fulfilled perfectly the righteousness required by the law. [Had the Jews only used the law instead of abusing it, it would have been their best preparation for the Saviors advent; for by reason of mans weakness it was powerless to justify. It was intended to impart to man a knowledge of his sinfulness and awaken in his heart earnest longings for some powerful deliverer. Thus used, it would have insured the reception of the Messiah by the Jews. Striving to attain to real holiness, and increasingly conscious of the impossibility of attaining it by the imperfect obedience to the laws requirements, they would gladly have recognized Jesus Christ as the end of the law for righteousness.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Christ: Rom 3:25-31, Rom 8:3, Rom 8:4, Isa 53:11, Mat 3:15, Mat 5:17, Mat 5:18, Joh 1:17, Act 13:38, Act 13:39, 1Co 1:30, Gal 3:24, Col 2:10, Col 2:17, Heb 9:7-14, Heb 10:8-12, Heb 10:14
the end: [Strong’s G5056], the object, scope, or final cause; the end proposed and intended. In this sense Eisner observes that [Strong’s G5056] is used by Arrian.
Reciprocal: Exo 25:21 – mercy seat Exo 34:33 – a veil Exo 40:20 – mercy Lev 4:25 – put Lev 4:30 – upon the horns Lev 4:34 – the horns of the altar Lev 4:35 – and the priest shall make Num 7:15 – General Psa 98:2 – righteousness Isa 42:21 – he will Isa 54:17 – and their Luk 10:28 – this Joh 5:46 – for Joh 6:29 – This Joh 16:10 – righteousness Joh 19:30 – It is Rom 3:21 – righteousness Rom 3:31 – yea Rom 4:11 – father 2Co 3:7 – which 2Co 3:13 – to the 2Co 5:21 – we Gal 2:19 – through Phi 3:9 – which is of the 1Ti 1:5 – the end
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0:4
Rom 10:4. Righteousness is from DI-KAIOSUNE, and the part of Thayer’s definition that is needed here is, “The state acceptable to God which becomes a sinner’s possession.” This definition shows the word to have a religious sense, meaning the kind of life necessary to salvation. Christ put an end to the law for that purpose, but He did not intend to interfere with the observance of its institutions as national customs. That is why Paul, though a Christian, did the things recorded in Act 16:3 Act 18:21. See also the comments at Act 21:20-26. But none except Jews have the right to any of these things, even as customs (Gal 2:21 Gal 5:1-4).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 10:4. For Christ is the and of the law. The emphatic word is end; its meaning, however, is open to discussion. Explanations: (1.) Christ is the object, or aim, of the law. This may be expanded in two ways: (a.) The end of the law was to make men righteous, and this end was accomplished in Christ; hence the Jews by rejecting Him did not submit themselves, etc. (b.) The end of the law was to lead to Him, hence by stumbling at Him, while seeking their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves, etc. The two may be combined; each of them preserves the force of for, as a proof of Rom 10:3. (2.) Christ is the fulfilment of the law. This, which is true enough, does not meet the requirements of this passage. (3.) Christ is the termination, conclusion, of the law. So many commentators, among them Meyer, who paraphrases: For in Christ the validity of the law has come to an end, that righteousness should become the portion of every one who believes. This chronological view has much to recommend it, especially the fact that there is such a sharp contrast made in Rom 10:5-6, between the law and Christ. On the other hand we may ask why should Paul quote from the law, if it had lost its validity? This view, moreover, does not furnish so strong a proof of the position of Rom 10:3, as (1.) which is, on the whole, the preferable explanation.
Unto righteousness to every one that believeth. If end is taken in the sense of aim, then unto expresses the result; if it means conclusion, then this clause indicates the purpose of the abrogation of the legal system. The emphasis here rests on believeth, since it was thus that men submitted themselves to the righteousness of God (Rom 10:3).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
There was a threefold law of God, which Christ may be said to be the end of; namely, judicial, ceremonial, and moral.
1. The judicial law was that which God by Moses delivered to the Jews, containing directions for administration of their civil government. Now Christ was the end of the law, as he has abolished it: for the Jewish polity was to continue till the coming of the Messiah, and no longer, Gen 49:10; Dan 9:25.
2. The ceremonial law was that which did prescribe certain sacred rites and ceremonies to be observed in the external worship of God by the people of Israel. The former law had relation to them as a nation, this as they were a church. Now Christ is the end of this law, as he has abrogated it. All the ceremonies of that law were shadows and types of Christ; now the shadows were to cease, when once the substance was come.
3. The moral law is that holy and eternal rule of righteousness given by God to men, for the right ordering of their thoughts, words, and actions, towards God, their neighbour, and themselves. This law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments, and is called the law of righteousness and the royal law, Rom 9:31; Jam 2:1.
1. Now Christ may be said to be the end of this law,
1. As he is the scope of it.
2. As he is the accomplishment of it. The precepts of the law point at Christ, as he by whom they are accomplished; the promises of the law point at him as he by whom they are ratified; and the threatenings of the law may be said to point at him, as he by whom they are escaped. Christ was the sum of the law, as well as the substance of the gospel.
In a word, 3. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to be imputed to every one that believeth in him, the law being our school-master to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, Gal 3:25
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 10:4. For That they have not submitted themselves to Gods way of becoming righteous is evident in this, that they reject Christ, by whom alone righteousness can be obtained; Christ is the end of the law The scope and aim of it; for righteousness Observe, 1st, The righteousness here spoken of is evidently that which is necessary in order to eternal life, and leads to it, (see Rom 5:21,) termed the righteousness of God by faith, Php 3:9; implying not only justification, Rom 3:24, Tit 3:7, without which we, guilty, condemned sinners, can have no title to eternal life, it being the only means of cancelling our guilt, and freeing us from condemnation; but also sanctification, spoken of Eph 4:17-24, Tit 2:5-6, without which we are not in Christ, 2Co 5:17, and have no fitness for heaven; and practical obedience consequent thereon, Eph 2:10, the grand evidence that we are righteous, Luk 1:6, 1Jn 3:7. 2d, This righteousness, in these three branches of it, is not attainable by the law, moral or ceremonial; not by the former, because it finds us guilty of violating its spiritual and holy precepts, and has no pardon to give us; it finds us depraved, weak, and helpless, and has neither a new nature nor supernatural aid to impart. But may we not have the help we want from the ceremonial law? Cannot the sacrifices of it remove our guilt? No. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats, &c., to take away sin, Heb 10:4, &c. Cannot the various washings or purifications of it renew and cleanse our souls? No: they can only remove the filth of the flesh, Heb 9:13; 1Pe 3:21. Cannot the various institutions respecting meats and drinks, and the observance of days, &c., assist us to attain practical righteousness or obedience? No: as they do not make the tree good, of course the fruit cannot be good; as they do not purify the fountain, the streams issuing thence cannot be pure, Mat 7:16-19. But, 3d. This righteousness may be found by us in Christ; the end, or the final cause, for which the law was instituted; the moral law being chiefly intended to convince men of sin, namely, of their guilt, depravity, and weakness, and thus to be a school- master to bring them to Christ; Gal 3:19-24; and the ceremonial, to shadow forth and exhibit his sacrifice and grace. Accordingly the law points to Christ, and directs the sinner to have recourse to him for all the different branches of righteousness above mentioned, which cannot be obtained by it, but may be had in and by Christ; namely, justification, through his obedience unto death, whereby he hath removed the curse of the moral law, being made a curse for us; and regeneration, or a new creation, with the practical righteousness proceeding therefrom, through his grace and Spirit; the information and direction, in the way of duty, afforded by his doctrine and example, and the motives to obedience furnished by his precepts, promises, and threatenings, co-operating as means to produce the same blessed effects. But, 4th, To whom is Christ thus the end of the law for righteousness? To every one Whether Jew or Gentile; (see Rom 10:11-15;) that believeth Namely, with the faith described Rom 10:5, &c. So that the very end and design of the law was to bring men to believe in Christ, whom it exhibited and pointed out, for justification, renovation, and universal holiness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 4. It is on this point, indeed, that their view and that of God have come into collision. The Messiah brought a free righteousness offered to faith; His coming consequently put an end to man’s attempt to establish his own righteousness on the observance of the law; thus, then, fell the whole legal economy, which had now fulfilled its task. It was not so the Jews understood it. If they in a measure accepted the salvation of the Gentiles, they thought of it only as an annexation to Israel and a subjection to the sovereignty of Moses. It was under this idea that they compassed sea and land, as Jesus says, to make proselytes (Mat 23:15). The Messiah was simply to consummate this conquest of the world by Israel, destroying by judgment every Gentile who resisted. His reign was to be the perfect application of the legal institutes to the whole world. It is easy to understand the error and the irritation which could not fail to take possession of the people and their chiefs, when Jesus by His decided spirituality seemed to compromise the stability of the law of ordinances (Mat 5:1-48; Mat 9:11-17; Mat 15:1 et seq.); when He announced plainly that He came not to repair the old Jewish garment, but to substitute for that now antiquated regime, a garment completely new. In this familiar form He expressed the same profound truth as St. Paul declares in our verse: The law falls to the ground with the coming of Him who brings a completely made righteousness to the believer.
The word may signify end or aim; but not, as some have understood it here (Orig., Er.): fulfilment (), a meaning which the word cannot have. The meaning aim, adopted by Calov., Grot., Lange, and others, is in keeping with Gal 3:24, where the law is called the pedagogue to bring the Jews to Christ. But the context seems rather to require that of end (Aug., Mey., etc.). There is a contrast between this word and the term , to hold erect (Rom 10:3). This latter meaning, that of end, no doubt implies the notion of aim; for if the law terminates in Christ, it is only because in Him it has reached its aim. Nevertheless it is true that the contrast established in the following development between the righteousness of the law and that of faith requires, as an explanation properly so called, the meaning of end, and not aim. Of two contrary things, when the one appears, the other must take end.
This new fact which puts an end to the law, is the coming of Christ made righteousness to the believer. The indicates the destination and application: in righteousness offered and given to the believer, whoever he may be, Jew or Gentile; comp. 1Co 1:30. These words: every one that believeth, express the two ideas which are about to be developed in the two following passages: that of the freeness of salvation, contained in the word believeth (Rom 10:5-11); and that of its universality, contained in the word every one (Rom 10:12-21).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For [With this word the apostle gives further evidence of the ignorance of the Jews. He has shown that they did not know that they could not merit eternal life by good works; he now proceeds to show that they did not know that the law itself, which was the sole basis on which they rested their hopes of justification by the merit of works, was now a nonentity, a thing of the past; having been fulfilled, abolished and brought to an absolute and unqualified end by Christ. The Jews, therefore, are proven ignorant, for] Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth. [The apostle places the enlightenment of believers in contrast with the lack of knowledge of the Jews. All believers understand (not only that Christ is the end or aim or purpose for which the law was given, and that he also ended or fulfilled it, but) that Christ, by providing the gospel, put an end to the law–killed it. The apostle does not mean that the law only dies to a man when he believes in Christ, else it would still live, as to unbelieving Jews: “to every one that believeth,” therefore, expresses a contrast in enlightenment, and not in state or condition. The new covenant or testament, which is the gospel, made the first testament old (Heb 8:13). That is to say, the new or last will revokes and makes null and void all former wills, and no one can make good his claim to an inheritance by pleading ignorance of the New Will, for the Old Will is abrogated whether he chooses to know it or not. As the word “end” has many meanings, such as aim, object, purpose, fulfillment, etc., expositors construe Paul’s words many ways, but the literal meaning, an end–i. e., a termination–best suits the context. “Of two contrary things,” says Godet, “when one appears, the other must take and end.” “Christ is the end of the law, as ‘death,’ saith Demosthenes, ‘is the end of life'” (Gifford). The Lord does not operate two antagonistic dispensations and covenants at one time. To make evident the fact that the gospel terminates the law, the apostle now shows the inherent antagonism between the two; one of them promising life to those obedient to law, the other promising salvation to the one being obedient to or openly confessing his faith. And so there is an antagonism between the gospel and the law.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Righteousness arising from legal obedience is nothing but our own counterfeit self-righteousness, which is filthy rags in the sight of God. The only hope of humanity is the righteousness of God in Christ, imputed unto the broken-hearted through faith alone, and wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost in regeneration. We have a most wonderful Savior, very God and perfect man. In His divine capacity He has a righteousness peculiar to His divinity, which He will never impart, but retain forever. In His human capacity He has a righteousness peculiar to His perfect humanity, which He will never impart, but eternally retain. Meanwhile He has a third righteousness arising from His perfect obedience to the divine law, actively in life keeping it and passively in death verifying it. This third righteousness, which is neither essential to His Godhead, nor His manhood, nor His perfect Mediatorial character, lie procured for all His guilty, ruined brethren to relieve them of condemnation and establish them irreproachable before the divine law for time and eternity. Since Christ Himself is the only human being who ever did or ever can keep the law, having become our Substitute in death and our exemplar in life, since faith in its very nature is the only appropriating grace, we must all receive this righteousness by faith alone. Here Paul condemns the Jews for going about to establish their own righteousness instead of receiving the righteousness of God in Christ by simple faith. The world is still full of people going about to establish their own righteousness. I was on that line nineteen years, intervening between my conversion and sanctification. Perfectly honest and sincere, kneeling before God, I made my consecration to the best of my knowledge and ability. Meanwhile a voice said to me, Now, if you want to be holy and all right with God, you go ahead and perform every duty just right, and you will find your heart clean and your life cloudless sunshine. I thought it was the voice of God, but it was that of the enemy, decoying me away lest I might by simple faith receive the Omnipotent Sanctifier, who was at that time standing right by me, and ready in a moment to give me the boon for which I went sighing and crying nineteen years. Thus making my consecration, instead of receiving sanctification by faith in the present tense, I renewed my covenant and resolved to do much better than ever before. So, leaving the Sanctifier standing by, I again and again proceeded with this going about to establish my own righteousness, instead of submitting to the righteousness of God through Christ by faith, every time only to be mortified by finding that I had grieved the Spirit by offering Him another pile of filthy rags, all this time postponing the blessing which Omnipotent Grace waited to bestow in a moment. The churches are this day filled with this fatal going about, running themselves down, working up their human institutions to glorify God with the little filthy lucre which He does not need, instead of magnifying Him with the glory of holiness, which is alone acceptable in His sight.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
10:4 {3} For Christ [is] the {c} end of the law for righteousness to {d} every one that believeth.
(3) The proof: the law itself points to Christ, that those who believe in him should be saved. Therefore the calling to salvation by the works of the law, is vain and foolish: but Christ is offered for salvation to every believer.
(c) The end of the law is to justify those that keep the law: but seeing that we do not observe the law through the fault of our flesh, we do not attain this end: but Christ heals this disease, for he fulfils the law for us.
(d) Not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Greek word telos and its English equivalent "end" can refer either to termination (as in "the end of the matter") or to purpose (as in "to the end that"). Paul believed that Jesus Christ was the end of the Mosaic Law in both respects. He spoke of the Law as having a function to fulfill in history after which Jesus Christ terminated it (Rom 7:6; Gal 3:19; Gal 3:23; cf. Mar 7:18-19; Luk 16:16; Joh 1:17; Act 10:10-15; Rom 14:17; 1Co 8:8; 2Co 3:6-18; Gal 4:9-11; Gal 5:1; Col 2:17; Heb 7:12; Heb 9:10). Furthermore he described the purpose of the Law as bringing people to Christ (Rom 7:7-13; Gal 3:24; cf. Mat 5:17).
"In the progress of salvation history the beginning of the end of the role of law is in the coming of Christ. Its end is based on the work he effected and applied to the church he established." [Note: David K. Lowery, "Christ, the End of the Law in Romans 10:4," in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, p. 246.]
In the verse before us Paul evidently meant that the Mosaic Law ended when Jesus Christ died. The support for this view is that Paul had just been contrasting, in Rom 9:30-33, the Law with the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. The Jews incorrectly imagined that the Law was a means of justification, but when Jesus Christ came He provided the real means of justification. Paul did not mean that the Law was at one time a means of justification that ended when Jesus Christ died. The Jews only thought of the Law as a means of obtaining righteousness. It is that supposed function of the Law to justify that ends for "everyone who believes" in Christ.
God gave the Mosaic Law for two purposes primarily. One purpose was to reveal the character and standards of a holy God. Consequently people would recognize their inability to be good enough to earn acceptance by God and so look to God for salvation (Rom 7:13, Gal 3:24). The second purpose was to regulate the moral, religious, and civil life of the children of Israel (Deu 4:1). God never intended it to provide eternal salvation for the Israelites (Rom 3:20). He did not give it for a redemptive purpose. God has preserved the Mosaic Law in Scripture for Christians because of its revelatory value. He never intended Christians to regulate their lives by its precepts.
"It is because Reformed theology has kept us Gentiles under the Law,-if not as a means of righteousness, then as ’a rule of life,’ that all the trouble has arisen. The Law is no more a rule of life than it is a means of righteousness." [Note: Newell, p. 393.]
God has terminated the whole Mosaic Law. It is one unified code (cf. Rom 7:6). God wants Christians to observe nine of the Ten Commandments because they are part of the Law of Christ. This is the regulatory code that God has given the church, namely, the teachings of Christ and the apostles (Gal 6:2). [Note: See J. Dwight Pentecost, "The Purpose of the Law," Bibliotheca Sacra 128:511 (July-September 1971):227-33; Hal Harless, "The Cessation of the Mosaic Covenant," Bibliotheca Sacra 160:639 (July-September 2003):349-66; and Ping-Kuen Eric Li, "The Relationship of the Christian to the Law as Expressed in Romans 10:4" (Th.M. thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1991).]