Wednesday: The Goal of the Law
(Rom. 9:30-10:4)
The title for this week’s lesson comes from Romans 10:4-Christ is the end of the law (NKJV). Many who have been preconditioned to think negatively about the law automatically interpret the text to mean, Christ made the law obsolete. However, this reading goes against the many references in the book of Romans and other parts of the New Testament that discuss the continued relevance of the law.
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Read Romans 9:30-10:4. How is Paul explaining here how salvation is by faith and not by the law?
As with the rest of the epistle to the Romans, Paul’s purpose in these verses is to demonstrate the true source of righteousness. The law is an indicator of righteousness, but it is powerless to make people righteous. Hence, Paul portrays a paradox: the nations (Gentiles) who did not even strive for righteousness have obtained it, while Israel, who strove to keep the righteous law, did not obtain it. Paul is not excluding Jews from righteousness; neither is he saying that every non-Jew is righteous. He is simply saying that the law does not bring righteousness to a sinner, whether Jew or Gentile.
Many Jews were sincere in their desire for righteousness, but their quest was futile (Rom. 10:2). They were zealous about serving God but wanted to do so on their own terms. They had taken an object of God’s revelation (the law) and confused it with the Source of their salvation. As good as the law is, it’s not good enough to save anyone. In fact, rather than making a person righteous, the law highlights the individual’s sinfulness; it amplifies the need for righteousness. That’s why Paul describes Christ as the end of the law. He is not the end in the sense of terminating the law, but in the sense of being the goal of the law, the One to whom the law points. The law leads a person to Christ as the repentant sinner looks to Him for salvation. The law reminds all Christians that Christ is our righteousness (Rom. 10:4).
People who take the law seriously are always in danger of legalism, of seeking to establish their own righteousness.
As we seek to obey God’s law, how can we be careful not to fall into what can be a very subtle trap?
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I've met a lot of religious legalists in my time and I myself have been found guilty of doing it till I kept coming up short on keeping God's law perfectly. This week's lesson is such good news b/c it shows by fully accepting Christ (not just for show outwardly to others but really wanting to please Him) and by allowing myself to hear the Holy Spirit directing me to better choices (not always the ones I want to make but dying to myself any way), I don't have to obsess whether I’m keeping the Law. As Lorraine pointed out on Tuesday’s lesson …if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law (Galatians 5: 16-18). All that the Holy Spirit leads you to do (and the proof that I’m on the right track w/ that are the Fruits of the Spirit) are w/in the boundaries of the Law. So by de facto, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I come in line w/ the Law. [I hope I have this right lol]
O God, please blind my eyes to external righteousness - I keep the Sabbath, I am consistent with tithes/offering, I don't fornicate, I am a vegetarian, I don't smoke or drink, I go to Wednesday night meetings, I dress modestly, I don't wear jewelry, I believe in the Spirit of Prophecy................. Keep me in humility, trusting in you as I strive to live Godly. Let me not think that I am a better Christian than others with obvious defects. Without your imputed righteousness I would be lost. Thanks for this enlightenment. Amen.
What is at the heart of this lesson is the fact that law keeping does not bring salvation.
Only faith in Jesus can do that
Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
The law to sharpen our wits
Wow!it sounds nice when christ is in us the law becomes inactive but when He is not in us then the law keeps reflecting your mistakes and if you don change you will be guility of breaking God's law which ends up to be called sin,therefore as sin entered in the the world through one man called Adam and the penality of sinning was death now the penality of death has been taken away by another second man called Jesus christ and now we live under grace but not under the law because He is the beginning and the end of everything,so he did away with the law and now you can freely access salvation through Him but if you can not walk in Him,then the law is there for you,you have got the freedom if choice.
Samwelchoi, I believe it is, rather, that when Christ is in us, then the requirements of the Law are fulfilled in us, because Christ perfectly lived out the requirements of the Law.
Christ is the "end" or "goal" of the Law. The Law teaches us that we are sinners and need Christ. When we submit ourselves to Christ, then He changes us from the inside out.
On the other hand, when we try to keep the Law, rather than connecting by faith to Christ, we fail, and the Law condemns us.
therefore does it mean that being under grace we are not obliged to keep the law?i also find it strange when one says Christ deed away with the law yet He declared that he never came to do away with the law.please help me on this matter?
Harold, yes both the law and Jesus Christ must be in us for us to have immortal life. The bible says, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are pass away, behold all things become new. This is not saying we do not need the law anymore because Jesus died for me. see Hebrews 8:10-13. Jesus promised to PUT HIS LAWS INTO THEIR MIND,AND WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS...: does this sound like Jesus will get rid of Himself. How can he get rid of himself when He is the law. It is his law in our minds and hearts that helps up to accept his atonement. AT-ONE-MENT with him. He in me (his laws), and I in him (his grace).
It's interesting that humans love to worship the creation instead of the Creator. Pursuing the law to achieve righteousness is idol worship for the religious (and it's easy to be deceived into thinking that it will save us).
Law leads us to know Jesus even when it gives us the knowledge of sin because when thw Law is transgressed we sin. So as long as we obey the law we grasps onto faith thats is when we realise that grace saves us from out from our guilts that the law points out from us. But6 we do not done away with the law because faith and law goes together.
Finally we must understand that humans will be saved by grace because Jesus accepts aveyone that had faith in Him and keep his laws and had a connection everyday in their daily routeens.
God bless.
It became easier for me when I think that Jesus Christ is the living example (or the end) of the law.