10-4: Okay

Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

The end of the law? But Jesus said that He didn’t come to abolish the law; how can He be the end of the law? Allowing scripture to interpret scripture is the best way to understand what the Bible means. It’s all too easy to take a verse out of context, quote only half of it, and thus make it say what you want it to say, not what God intended it to say.

As stated above, Christ Himself said that He didn’t come to abolish the law (Matthew 5:17), but rather to fulfill it. He then stated, in the very next verse, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18) Contextually, Jesus was speaking to a people still bound by the Law of Moses, that is, the Levitical rules and regulations given to the Jewish people as commandments from God.

That being so, what He said that day fully applied to the people of that time because He had yet to fulfill all of the law and its requirements. But Jesus continued with His mission and ministry here on earth. He fulfilled and lived into all that God had planned for Him and He went to the cross at Calvary. He bore the scourging of Roman soldiers. He wore the crown of thorns on His brow. He carried our sins, on His shoulders, up to His place of execution. He bore the sins of the world from beginning to end in His body and then He cried out, “IT IS FINISHED!” (John 19:30)

At those words the veil in the temple was torn, the earth quaked, buildings collapsed, dead bodies rose from their graves, and the law was fulfilled. He put an end to the workings of men and our feeble attempts to make ourselves righteous before a truly Righteous God. He imparted to us His Righteousness and took our unrighteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

At that very moment He, Jesus Christ, became the end of the law, period. No longer can the law be used against us in judgment because God’s justice was satisfied with Jesus’ sacrifice. No longer can the law be manipulated by man to condemn the actions of still sinful believers. We were graced out of the “do good get good/do bad get bad” design of the Law of Moses and welcomed into the age of grace and forgiveness offered by Christ. When Christ died on the cross He gave righteousness to everyone who believes in Him.

This is not to say that we are to stop obeying the laws, but that our ability or inability to uphold them will not be used in judgment against us. If God is no longer judging us based on our abilities, but rather on the perfection of His Son, Jesus Christ, then it stands to reason that we should no longer be judging ourselves or each other based on our individual abilities or inabilities to fulfill the requirements of the law. In church, at home, and at work we should be constantly preaching, teaching, and focusing all eyes on Jesus Christ and His finished work. We don’t need to tell people a long list of to-do’s that will set their lives right; we just need to give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His authoritative statement of “It’s done!” Just like we don’t have to do the work to get His salvation, we also don’t have to do the work to change people’s lives. We are the bearers of the best news ever: Jesus Christ is the risen Savior of the world. He died for you and for me and there is freedom in His sacrifice. The work to be done in correcting behavior in individuals should be left up to Holy Spirit. Our work is simply to proclaim Jesus. 10-4?