Is Christ the End of the Law?

The Sapphire Review Vol. 2 | No. 7 • February 14, 2025

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Romans 10:4, KJV

TRADITIONAL TEACHING

Here we find a very popular verse, which is commonly used to support the idea that the ten commandments (in particular Sabbath keeping) has been done away with and brought to an end.

Proponents of this view will state that, per this verse in Romans, Christ has brought an end to the law. In other words, the law is now finished and voided for every person that puts their faith in Jesus.

CONSIDERATIONS

Let us consider the word “end” as an application for the word “void.”

END:

The extremity or last part, in general; the close or conclusion, applied to time.

VOID:

Having no legal or binding force; null; not effectual to bind parties, or to convey or support a right; not sufficient to produce its effect. Thus a deed not duly signed and sealed, is void A fraudulent contract is void or may be rendered void

Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary

In certain cases, a person may write a check and later void it. While the check was written, and not yet voided, it remained valid and could be cashed for the amount stated. However, once voided, its validity would be brought to an end.

By way of another example, consider an invoice that has been generated by a business and issued to a customer for services rendered. The invoice states that which is owed by the customer: why it is owed, and what amount is due. Yet, if the company voids the invoice, the amount due is changed to $0 on the company’s books and the invoice is effectively brought to its end, leaving the customer owing nothing and having no obligation or expectation to pay.

BACK TO ROMANS

Is this the idea that Paul is trying to communicate to his readers in Romans 10:4? If so, it stands in direct conflict with what he had just written back in chapter 3:

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” (Romans 3:31, KJV)

Did Paul forget about what he wrote in chapter 3 by the time he got to this verse in chapter 10? Did he change his mind, or have men simply misunderstood?

For centuries, men have entertained many clever ideas to explain away certain clear teachings in scriptures. We know that scripture must be in harmony with itself. Any apparent conflict is simply a result of man’s faulty reasonings and not that of the scriptures themselves.

GOING TO THE GREEK

Some who realize that this is not what Paul is saying, have tried to resolve the Romans 10:4 dilemma by going to Greek lexicons and saying that “end” really just means “goal.” Although this does provide a course correction from the error in the traditional teaching, it nevertheless leaves a variation in the interpretation of this verse that is still somewhat difficult to explain and to defend.

For understanding this verse, we need not go to any Greek lexicon. There is a simple way of understanding this verse by taking all of the verse, the surrounding context, and its quotations, line upon line, exactly as they read.¹

AS IT READS

The main reason for the traditional misunderstanding with this verse comes from taking only part of the verse to form the interpretation.

Those who read “Christ is the end of the law” and stop, have not completed Paul’s sentence or his thought. The next two words are essential:

• Christ is NOT the end of: “{the law}”

• Christ is NOT the end of: “{the law}” ---> {for righteousness...}

• Christ IS the end of: “{the law for righteousness}”

THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

What is “the law for righteousness?”

Consider the preceding verse, where men are working to establish “their own righteousness” rather than submitting to “the righteousness of God.”²

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” (Romans 10:3, KJV)

So, in simple terms, “the law for [as a means of] righteousness” is man’s efforts in attempting to build up their own righteousness by their own efforts of keeping the law. All such efforts are in vain, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.³

Christ IS the end of this mentality and process, but not the end of the law itself.

Paul reiterates this concept in his letter to the Philippians:

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:9, KJV)

COMMANDMENTS WRITTEN IN THE HEART

Part of the new covenant promise is that God’s law is to be written upon the hearts of all those who have been born again.⁴

If the ten commandments have been voided and brought to an end through Christ, then the new covenant precept, which is made possible through Christ, of writing God’s commandments upon the hearts of His followers, would be meaningless as there would be nothing left in effect to write upon a heart.

Following our verse of discussion in Romans 10:6-8, Paul, while in the same context, quotes from a passage in Deuteronomy:

“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:11–14, KJV)

Now consider the two verses in Deuteronomy which serve as bookends to that which Paul quoted:

“If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD [Jehovah] thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD [Jehovah] thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.” (Deuteronomy 30:10, KJV)

“In that I command thee this day to love the LORD [Jehovah] thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD [Jehovah] thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.” (Deuteronomy 30:16, KJV)

CONCLUSION

Truly, our righteousness and ability to stand before Jehovah, our heavenly Father and God, is only through Christ and His righteousness, and not of ourselves.⁵ Yet, when one is fully surrendered, born again, and seeking to please God and to love Him with all their hearts, they will see the beautiful connection between loving God and keeping His commandments (even Sabbath). Doing so is not a burden upon them, but a blessing.

Christ is not the end of “the law” but rather the end of “the law for righteousness.” He is not the end of the law in terms of doing away with it and our need for keeping the ten commandments.⁶ He is the end of men trying to establish their own righteousness by their keeping of the law.⁷

Christ upheld the law perfectly.⁸ He is our example, and we are to walk as he walked, upholding the law.⁹

The righteousness of faith is the faith of Christ, who dwells within the converted person by His spirit, which then enables them to keep the commandments of God as they are written upon their hearts just as they were written upon the tables of stone.¹⁰

We are covered by Christ’s righteousness alone, but because of His indwelling presence, and the power which we receive through the grace of God, we overcome sin and keep the commandments of God.

---

PRAYER

May all traditions and opinions of men be set aside, and scripture be allowed to be taken exactly as it reads. The truth does not need a scholar to explain it, but rather an unbiased, an unpolluted, and unindoctrinated heart like a child to receive it.

May God help us all to always approach scripture in this way, that we may be led by the spirit of truth into all truth.

God Bless,

Charles

VISUAL EXAMPLES

SCRIPTURE INDEX / REFERENCES

1. Isa 28:10

2. Rom 10:3

3. Rom 3:23

4. Jer 31:31-34; Heb 10:13-17

5. Eph 2:8-9

6. Mt 5:18

7. Phil 3:9

8. 2 Cor 5:21

9. Rom 3:31; 1 Pet 2:21; 1 Jn 2:6

10. Prov 7:2-3; 2 Cor 3:3