Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4 (NKJV)
Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4 (NIV)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Romans 10:4 (KJV)
For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.
Romans 10:4 (NLT)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4 (ESV)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4 (NASB)Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
For Christ is the end of the law [it leads to Him and its purpose is fulfilled in Him], for [granting] righteousness to everyone who believes [in Him as Savior].
Romans 10:4 (AMP)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him.
Romans 10:4 (AMPC)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it.
Romans 10:4 (MSG)Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
New Covenant Meaning
Telos: Both Goal and Termination
The Greek word telos carries two meanings that are both present in this verse and are not in conflict. As goal or purpose: Christ is the destination toward which the law was always pointing. Every sacrifice, every priesthood, every covenant term in the Mosaic system was a type that pointed forward to the one it was representing. In this sense, Christ fulfills the law's purpose and brings it to its intended conclusion. As termination: with the arrival of the thing the law pointed to, the law as a system for achieving righteousness before God is brought to its end. The shadow gives way to the substance. Both meanings work together: because Christ is the goal the law aimed at, He is also the termination of the law as the means of righteousness.
For Righteousness to Everyone Who Believes
Paul specifies the domain in which Christ is the telos of the law: for righteousness. He is not saying the Mosaic law is abolished in every respect. He is saying that as a means of achieving righteousness before God, it has ended in Christ. The law could not produce righteousness because the flesh was weak (Romans 8:3). What the law demanded but could not produce is freely given to the one who believes. Faith, not law-keeping, is the mechanism. And the scope is universal: to everyone who believes, not to the circumcised, not to those with sufficient moral achievement, but to every believer without distinction.
Romans 10:4 stands in the middle of Paul's anguished discussion of Israel's rejection of the gospel (chapters 9-11). The problem he identifies in verse 3 is that Israel, seeking to establish their own righteousness, did not submit to the righteousness of God. They pursued the law as the path to righteousness but did not recognize that the one the law was pointing to had arrived. The irony is profound: the very covenant that was intended to bring Israel to Christ became the obstacle when they refused to see Christ as its telos. The law was never meant to be the destination. It was always meant to be the road.
Application for Your Life
You Are Not Trying to Achieve Righteousness Through Law-Keeping
The practical implication of Romans 10:4 is that the believer's righteousness is not a project under construction through increasing law-compliance. It is received through faith in Christ, who is Himself the righteousness of God for the believer (1 Corinthians 1:30). This does not mean moral indifference. It means the source and basis of your standing before God is not what you produce but what Christ accomplished. When you feel that you need to earn God's approval through better behavior, you are functionally returning to the system that Christ terminated. Your righteousness is in Him, complete and available through faith.
Faith Opens What Law Could Never Deliver
The law could not deliver righteousness because it addressed a fallen nature with demands rather than transforming the nature itself. Faith does what the law could not: it brings the believer into union with Christ, who is the righteousness of God embodied. This is why Paul says righteousness comes "to everyone who believes," with no qualifier about the quality of their moral performance. The door is faith, not achievement. And the door is open to everyone, because Christ as the telos of the law is not the exclusive property of any ethnic or religious group. He is accessible to all through the same mechanism: trust.
Prayer Based on This Verse
Father, I receive what Your Word declares. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to me because I believe. I am not trying to achieve righteousness by my own law-keeping. I am receiving it through faith in the One who is its goal and its fulfillment. Where I have been laboring under the assumption that my standing before You depends on my performance, I repent of that unbelief. Christ is my righteousness. I trust Him for it. I receive it as a gift, not a wage. And I thank You that the door is faith, which is open to me right now, in my current condition, without prerequisite. In Jesus name. Amen.