What does Romans 10:4 Mean?

Verse Meaning

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 ( Romans 7:6; Galatians 3:19; Galatians 3:23; cf. Mark 7:18-19; Luke 16:16; John 1:17; Acts 10:10-15; Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 8:8; 2 Corinthians 3:6-18; Galatians 4:9-11; Galatians 5:1; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 7:12; Hebrews 9:10). Furthermore he described the purpose of the Law as bringing people to Christ ( Romans 7:7-13; Galatians 3:24; cf. Matthew 5:17). [source][source]

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"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." ^[1] [source]

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 Romans 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. [source][source]

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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 ( Romans 7:13, Galatians 3:24). The second purpose was to regulate the moral, religious, and civil life of the children of Israel ( Deuteronomy 4:1). God never intended it to provide eternal salvation for the Israelites ( Romans 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. [source][source]

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"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." ^[2] [source]

God has terminated the whole Mosaic Law. It is one unified code (cf. Romans 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 ( Galatians 6:2). ^[3] [source]

Context Summary

How earnestly the Apostle loved his own people! All their hatred of him could not extinguish the passionate devotion which he entertained for them. "Apostle to the Gentiles" he might be, but he was essentially an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, Romans 11:1. The whole reason of their rejection of the gospel lay in their inveterate refusal to submit, Romans 10:3. Is not that the difficulty with us all? It is not that we cannot believe, but that we will not submit to God's way of righteousness, so humbling is it to our pride.

If only God would allow us to scale the heights or plumb the depths, to do some great thing, to make some vast sacrifice, we should be satisfied to be saved, and His help in the process would not be resented. But it is intolerable to our proud hearts to be told that our own efforts are useless, and that the exclusive source of salvation is God's grace.

Notice the distinction between righteousness and salvation, Romans 10:9. The one is objective; the other subjective. The first, our standing before God, the latter, the sanctification of our inner life, which not only depends upon the belief of the heart, but requires the confession that Jesus Christ has become Lord and King of the whole nature. [source]

Chapter Summary: Romans 10

¹  The difference between the righteousness of the law, and that of faith;
¹¹  all who believe, both Jew and Gentile, shall not be shamed;
¹⁸  and that the Gentiles shall receive the word and believe
¹⁹  Israel was not ignorant of these things