Romans 10:4 - Did Jesus End the Law?

This is another verse that some erroneously apply to the Ten Commandments, despite the fact that the passage context and other scripture reveals is not possible.

Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

So which law is Paul referring to in Romans 10:4 and how many laws do we find in the Old Testament? There are two primary laws to begin with so we need to look at the context of the entire passage to establish which law though we should realize without any problem which one Jesus brought an end to by His own sacrifice on the cross.

Consider the following for what should be an obvious answer. What did people do before the cross to make reconciliation for their sin? Prior to Jesus dying on the cross, one had to take the appropriate unblemished animal, such as a sheep, to the temple Priest to be sacrificed to make atonement for their sin. This was the sacrificial law that was written in the book of the law (Galatians 3:10) that was part of the Mosaic Law which was added because of sin. (Galatians 3:19) The passage context also reveals that the Romans were trying to earn their righteousness by still keeping the Mosaic Law. (Verse 3 and 5)

Now for the obvious questions. Do we have to obey this sacrificial law anymore? And what do we do now when we sin and hence who ended this sacrificial law? See were the Ten Commandments nailed to the cross.

I hope it is now easy to see that Christ ended the sacrificial law on the cross when He became our one and final perfect sacrifice, ending the need for this law of sacrifices. Thus Jesus was an end to a law beyond any doubt - but it was obviously not the Ten Commandments but the sacrificial law, which was practiced before Jesus replaced this law. In fact the entire Mosaic Law ended which we are also told in not quite so clear words in verse 5.

There is now a growing group of Churches that came from the collapse of the Herbert Armstrong movement that teaches that we still need to observe the feast days without the sacrifices that were in the Mosaic Law that ended but scripture shows this movement is in grave error. See do we need to keep the feast days for very detailed information.

There are so many other scriptures that make it abundantly clear that the moral law remains, that one would wonder why anyone would conclude that Romans 10:4 means an end to the Ten Commandments. It is not hard to see that Jesus ended the law of sacrifices only and that there would be a large number of contradictions in scripture to say otherwise.

Here are just a few scriptures that reveal that Jesus did not end the law. (Matthew 5:17-19; Luke 16:17; Romans 2:13; Romans 3:31; Romans 7:7; Romans 7:12; Revelation 22:14)

And here is what the famous theologian Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible has to say on Romans 10:4.

Please read Christ is the end of the law for a very detailed explanation of this passage.