Romans 10:1-4 – Christ is the End of the Law

Topic: Christ is the End of the Law

Reading: Romans 10:1-4

Introduction and Overview

In these few words Paul is revealing a problem that the Jewish people faced. They were so bound up in the law that they could not see the truth. They worked hard to keep the tenets of the law, seeking to find righteousness by keeping the law. But they missed the point that Christ is the end of the law.

They failed to achieve righteousness because they thought righteousness was based upon works of the law. It was not because they lacked zealousness. That was not the issue as they learned the law and followed in the most minute details. But trying to be righteous under the law is an impossible task.

There are over six hundred and fifty laws under the Old Covenant. If you break just one of those laws, then you are guilty of being a lawbreaker. A “little white lie,” not that there is such a thing since a lie is a lie is a lie, makes you as much a lawbreaker as murder. There are no degrees of sin under the law. If you break the law you were deemed a lawbreaker. And lawbreaker is a sinner, and a sinner is separated from God because of their sin.

The law did not and could not take away sins. It could not make you righteous and it cannot make you perfect. But we must become perfect as it says in Matthew 5:48, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” But perfection is impossible under the law.

Therefore, God removed the law for all who believe. This is part of the reason why Christ came and died; to remove the law, or rather to remove us from the law. The law is still there in full force and full effect. But those who have faith and believe they have died and been raised with Christ are set free from the law. Christ is the end of the law.

Key points from reading:

1. No person will be righteous by works of law done by their own abilities
2. Self- righteousness is no righteousness at all as true righteousness comes from God, not our exertions or works
3. Christ is the end of the law for all who believe and have faith

Discussion:

1. Scripture: Romans 10:1
   • Paul speaks here of his countrymen, the Jews. You can hear Paul’s anguish and heartfelt desire for the people and the nation of his birth. It is his hope that they may see the truth and be saved.
   • And Paul did pray for his countrymen. He prayed that they might find the truth. Whenever he travelled to foreign destinations, it was his custom to first enter the synagogues of the Jews in those cities and preach the gospel of salvation (Read: Acts 17:1-3). Paul gave them every opportunity to hear the Good News in the hope they would turn to Christ.
   • But invariably and often it was the Gentiles who listened to his word. It was the Gentiles who turned from pagan beliefs and came to Christ, rather than the Jews.
2. Scripture: Romans 10:2
   • The Jews were extremely zealous for the law and all aspects of it. Paul himself was the same prior to coming to Christ (Read: Galatians 1:13-14). They had received the law, which was passed down through their generations, revering it as the word of God.
   • And the law is the word of God. It was the standard given to Israel through Moses by which the people were to live. God’s law is perfect and those who follow it will have an improved standard of life.
   • But the way that the Jews followed the law was flawed. In this verse Paul states that they were indeed very zealous for the law, but they were not enlightened. They lacked the enlightened understanding of how to follow the law correctly. They believed that it was by works of the law they would be made righteous, works such as fasting, tithing, cleansing of vessels, bathing, not eating certain foods, and so on. But it is not these things that make a person righteous. As Jesus made the point:
     
     “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! (Matthew 23:23-24)
     
     It is not about the works of the law. They do not make a person righteous in God’s eyes. It is rather about what was important in the law, as Jesus pointed out: faith, justice, and mercy. And that is why God removed the law in Jesus Christ for those who have faith. Christ is the end of the law when we receive and believe in His death and resurrection, which we enter in baptism.
3. Scripture: Romans 10:3
   • And here in this verse is the problem the Jews faced. Because they sought self-righteousness based upon works of the law, they did not submit to the righteousness that comes from God.
   • They were ignorant of God’s righteousness and believed the law was the embodiment of all things good. And so they followed the letter of the law believing that by doing so they were righteous. And in their zealous and fervent approach, they rejected Jesus when He appeared to show them a better way. Christ is the end of the law and following Him will lead to perfection apart from the law. But they could not accept that while they remained fixed under the law. They could not, and indeed refused to see the better way in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
   • Instead, they did not submit to the righteousness of God and rejected Jesus Christ, putting Him to death.
4. Scripture: Romans 10:4
   • This verse summarises the situation that we need to understand. Christ is the end of the law for all who have faith. And in this faith in Christ we are justified or made righteous.
   • We do not have to work for it or do anything. God in His grace and mercy has removed the law for those who are faithful, and declared us righteous by faith. We are no longer under the law because Christ is the end of the law for those who have faith. The law is taken away.
   • But he problems that the Jews suffered in their day remains today. There are many who still try to worship God by doing the works of the law. They fast, tithe, reject certain meats, and so on, as defined in the law. They are following the works of the law in the belief that these works lead to salvation and righteousness.
   • They do not. And in fact most Christians who follow such regimes end up feeling guilty and condemning themselves when they fail in keeping the law. And this should not be so. When we read the first verse of Romans 8, we learn that, “There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” But if you are condemning yourself because you failed in some point of the law, then you do not yet understand the gospel of salvation as preached by Jesus Christ and His apostles and disciples.
   • God has removed the law in Jesus Christ for those who have faith. Christ is the end of the law. And if there is no law for those who believe in Christ, then there is no condemnation. It is the law that condemns people as sinners. But Christ has taken away your sin and removed the law in His death, if you will believe it. And if you believe that you are freed from sin and removed from the law, then there is no condemnation. Who is condemning you anyway? Yourself? God does not condemn you as it says in Romans 8:1. Are you stronger or greater than God? And if you are not greater than God, then who are you to reject His word when He said that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
   • Your sins are taken away and you have been set free from the law. Christ is the end of the law for those who believe. So, do not condemn yourself. Seek the truth of these things and find the true way of the gospel, not the false way of works of law that is still being preached in churches today. The truth will set you free (John 8:32).

Key Takeaways:

1. Self-righteousness is no righteousness at all, and trying to keep the works of the law as the Jews did is trying to be righteous through your own efforts rather than receiving God’s free gift of righteousness by faith.
2. The problem of righteousness by works is still prevalent in the church today as the law is preached and taught in many churches around the world. But it is only by receiving the free gift of righteousness by faith that we will find righteousness.
3. Christ is the end of the law for all who have faith. When He died for us, He took away our sins and He removed us from the law so that we could be righteous by faith. This is open and offered to all who believe the word of God.

Prayer Points

1. Pray and ask the Lord to open these things up to you, especially if you are still following the works of the law such as tithing, fasting, and any other of the laws, by which no-one will be made righteous. Those things are not part of the gospel of salvation because the law ended with Christ.
2. Pray for insight and wisdom to understand these things because the only true righteousness is that which comes from God.