Romans 10:1-4

There are two tragedies in religion.  One is to have knowledge without zeal.  This is Laodiceanism, after the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22) that was saturated with apathy and self-satisfaction.  The other is zeal without knowledge.  Paul says this is the problem with his kin according to the flesh.  Again, Paul does not hate the Jews; he longs for their salvation.  But he sees that they have a problem, a fatal problem.  They seek after righteousness by works of the law and not by faith.  Thus they have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

How has Israel failed to submit to God’s righteousness?  First because they have stumbled over Christ.  They do not understand that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.  Here is an amazing thought.  The term “end” can mean two things.  It may mean Christ is the goal of the law, that the law was pointing to Christ.  That surely is true.  Everything about the Law of Moses pointed to Christ.  The feasts, the details of the tabernacle/temple, the sacrificial system and the righteous standard itself pointed to Christ.  As Paul said elsewhere, the law was a tutor to bring us to Christ so we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24).

“End” can also mean that the law is fulfilled in Christ.  That also is true!  Christ came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it (Matt. 5:17-18).  At the end of His earthly life He pointed out to His disciples that all things in the Old Testament must be fulfilled in Him.  In Romans 8:1-4 we are told that the righteous requirements of the Law were fulfilled in Christ.  Because He fulfilled the law, those who come to Him by faith are declared righteous (justified).  They become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).  Put these two thoughts together and you see that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe.

For believers today this has tremendously practical implications.  As the Holy Spirit makes clear in Scripture, the result is that we are no longer under the tutor.  We have become sons of God through faith (Gal. 3:24-26).  The earlier chapters of Romans (6-8) demonstrated that the law was not only unable to give us right standing before God; it is also unable to make us righteous in our day-to-day lives.  Freedom from sin is dependent on our not being under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14).  Elsewhere Paul notes that the religious works of the law are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh (Col. 2:23).

Let us not think foolishly, that if we are not under law there is nothing to stop us from sinning, much less to enable us to live righteously (Rom. 6:15).  As Romans 6-8 explains so clearly, our position in Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit actually enable us to walk faithfully with Christ.  Paul put it succinctly in Gal. 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.