Studies in Romans by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 15, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 29.

Studies in Romans

By T.

Christ the End of the Law.

IN the ninth chapter of Romans, Paul has been telling of the failures of Israel, his people according to the flesh, because they had not appropriated God's plan of salvation. Continuing to speak of them, he says:

"Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby. But the righteousness which is of faith saith thus, Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down:) or, Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him: for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. 10: 1-13.

"They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." Verse 2. This lack of knowledge kept them in ignorance of God's righteousness; and not having God's righteousness, they sought to establish their own righteousness. That is, they sought to make it appear that they were righteous, when in reality they were not. And this effort to make it appear that they were righteous only led them into hypocrisy. Hence we have the oft-repeated warning of the Master to the self-righteous Jews of His day (and they were the same generation of Jews that lived in Paul's day), "Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"

The continued effort to justify ourselves in any course we are pursuing results in the hypocrisy of self-righteousness, and this course is adhered to only when we are ignorant of God's plan, that we should see our righteousness in Him, and not in ourselves. It is so very easy for self-loving man to try to make himself out all right that he is much more than apt to exaggerate his supposed virtues into a very exalted kind of goodness; and then the way is prepared for him to become the bitterest kind of a persecuting hypocrite. It was such a condition as this that produced the men who were the persecutors of Christ and who finally crucified Him.

The same principles work the same in all ages. If we of to-day neglect God's plan for giving us righteousness thru Christ Jesus, and give ourselves to some human scheme of developing righteousness within ourselves, we will become just like the Jews of old; we will stand ready to destroy Christ and His followers because the Christ-life condemns us. And we will do all this persecuting work while professing in the most pronounced manner that we are the disciples of the Master Himself.

"Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. 10: 4. Murdock's Syriac translation renders this text, "For Messiah is the aim of the law, for righteousness, unto every one that believeth in Him." The Greek word translated "end" is telos, and Liddell and Scott give as their first definition of the word "an end accomplished." Thus do we see that Paul plainly teaches that the end to be accomplished by the law is to lead to Christ, and looking at the subject from the opposite standpoint, Christ is the revealing of the law.

The law demands the perfect life of Christ; nothing short of this will meet its requirements. And so the end, or the object, or the aim, of the law is to have the life of Christ revealed in men. When we

see a man doing some piece of work that we may not understand, we often ask the question, What end does he have in view? We mean by this, What does he expect to accomplish? And this text in Romans is just as tho some one had raised the question, What end does the law have in view? and the answer comes quickly that it is Christ for righteousness. See Gal. 3: 24.

The following texts, where the same Greek word telos is translated "end," will serve to show more fully the meaning of the text in Romans:

"Now the END of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." 1 Tim. 1: 5.

"Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the END of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." James 5: 11.

The "end," or object, "of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart." This is the result that the commandment demands. And to have this charity from a pure heart it is necessary for one to have the indwelling Christ; it is in this way that we meet the aim or object of the law.

Then again: we "have seen the end of the Lord" in His dealings with Job. Not that the Lord came to an end when He had finished with Job, but we see the object that the Lord had in dealing with Job as He did.

It is necessary for us to take an honest and comprehensive view of the Scriptures, else we might reach the hasty conclusion, as some have done, that the text in Romans teaches that the law came to an end in Christ and that we are not bound any longer to observe it. But the same logic that would teach the abolition of the law from Rom. 10: 4 would also teach from James 5: 11 that the Lord came to an end in the days of Job. The Bible is plain enough when we seek to know its teaching rather than to try to make it prove something that we have already in our minds as a cherished theory.

"Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame." This is a most blessed promise. Believing in Christ will cause us to run counter to many obstacles in this life; we will meet with many trials and difficulties. But in it all we may know that the word that can not fail has decreed that we "shall not be put to shame." This is one of the exceeding great and precious promises that will carry us thru many a dark and trying hour.