Passage

Romans 10.4

Book: Romans · NASB95

Verse

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Romans 10:4, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

NASB95 (NASB95)

"2. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God."

"4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."

"5. For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" (that is, to bring Christ down),'" (Romans 10:2-6, NASB95)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle.
Audience: the church at Rome, a mixed Jewish-Gentile congregation Paul has not yet visited; he writes to introduce his gospel and prepare the way for a planned visit.
Location: Paul writing from Corinth (most likely), c. AD 56-57.
Time period: Romans 9-11 is Paul's most extended treatment of Israel's place in salvation-history; Romans 10:4 sits at the heart of that argument.

Theological reading

The verse turns on the meaning of telos (τέλος), which carries (at minimum) three senses, each of which shapes a different theological reading:

1. Termination ("end" in the temporal-stop sense). Telos can mean "cessation", Christ brings the Law to a stop. Strong supersessionist readings (e.g. New Covenant Theology; the Are Christians Still Under The Law (ris3n) ingest's argument) take this sense: Christ's coming terminates the Mosaic Law as a covenantal system. Believers are no longer under the Law as a means of relating to God.

2. Goal / purpose ("end" in the teleological sense). Telos also means "goal," "aim," "fulfillment of intent", Christ is the purpose toward which the Law was always pointing. Reformed and Lutheran readings emphasize this sense: the Law was given to lead Israel to Christ; in Him, the Law reaches its intended terminus, like an arrow reaching its target. The Law is fulfilled, not abolished.

3. Both at once (the integrative reading). Most contemporary scholarship (Douglas Moo, Tom Schreiner, N. T. Wright, Richard Hays, James Dunn) treats Paul's use as deliberately encompassing both, Christ is the goal and the terminus, because reaching the goal completes the trajectory. The Law's goal was Christ; in reaching Him, the Law's role as covenant-mediator is completed and superseded by union with Christ.

The qualifying phrase: eis dikaiosynēn, "for righteousness." The end-of-law claim is specifically for righteousness, that is, for the establishment of right standing with God. Paul is not saying Christ is the end of the Law as moral instruction or as historical revelation; he is saying Christ is the end of the Law as a way of being righteous before God. The justifying function of the Law is what Christ terminates / fulfills; what continues (under various readings) is the moral or normative dimension.

The contrast in context. Romans 10:1-3 sets up the verse: Israel has a "zeal for God" but "not in accordance with knowledge"; they seek to "establish their own [righteousness]" by Law-keeping rather than submit to God's righteousness offered in Christ. Verse 4 explains why their Law-righteousness pursuit fails, because Christ is the telos of the Law for righteousness. The Law's righteousness-function has been transferred to Christ; pursuing Law-righteousness now is pursuing what the Law itself was designed to direct away from itself toward Him.

Patristic / scholarly note

Patristic. Origen (Commentary on Romans 8.2), Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans 17), Augustine (Letters 196 to Asellicus; On the Spirit and the Letter) read telos primarily in the fulfillment sense: Christ is what the Law was always pointing to. The patristic consensus does not cleanly choose between termination and goal but treats Christ as the fulfillment-that-supersedes.

Reformation. Luther (Lectures on Romans, 1515-1516; Commentary on Galatians) makes Romans 10:4 central to his Law/Gospel distinction: the Law cannot give life or righteousness; Christ alone does, and the Law's role is to drive sinners to Christ. Calvin (Commentary on Romans, 1540) reads similarly but with greater emphasis on the third use of the Law for sanctification continuing after justification.

Modern conservative scholarship. Douglas Moo (Romans NICNT, 1996; 2nd ed. 2018), careful treatment of telos concluding "goal-and-terminus" jointly. Thomas Schreiner (Romans BECNT, 1998; 2nd ed. 2018), similar; emphasizes Christ as the climax of salvation-history. C. E. B. Cranfield (Romans ICC, 1979), narrower "goal" emphasis, more sympathetic to continuing Law. James Dunn (Romans WBC, 1988), frames within the New Perspective; Christ ends the Law as a boundary marker between Jew and Gentile, opening covenant participation to all. N. T. Wright (Paul and the Faithfulness of God, 2013), Christ is the climax of the covenant; Law is reframed in light of His mission.

Contemporary covenant-theology positions. Reformed (continuing third use of moral law; Law's covenant-mediator role ended), most Reformed systematicians from Calvin to Berkhof to Vos to Beale. Dispensationalist (the Law-dispensation ended; the Church is under grace-administration). Theonomic (Mosaic Law's civil and moral provisions continue as norm). Hebrew Roots / Messianic (Mosaic Law continues, especially for Jewish believers). New Covenant Theology (entire Mosaic Law replaced by the law of Christ; Romans 10:4 cited as decisive support).

Connection to other passages

Hebrews 7.11-12, the parallel "change of priesthood = change of law" argument
Galatians 3:19-25, Law as paidagōgos leading to Christ; "the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith"
Galatians 3:24, Christ as goal of the Law
Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law... I did not come to abolish but to fulfill"
Romans 3:21-22, "the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ"
Romans 8:3-4, "what the Law could not do... God did", the Law's incapacity vs Christ's fulfillment
2 Corinthians 3:6-18, the contrast between the letter (Law) and the Spirit; the fading vs the surpassing glory
Hebrews 8:13, "When He said, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete"

Key words

G5056 - telos, telos (end / goal / fulfillment), the load-bearing word; ambiguity intentional
G3551 - nomos, nomos (law), what reaches its telos in Christ
G1343 - dikaiosynē (pending), dikaiosynē (righteousness), the qualifier specifying the scope
G4100 - pisteuō (pending), pisteuō (to believe), the access condition
G5547 - christos, Christos, the locus