Romans 10:4

For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

The apostle continues the line of thought which he had begun in chap. 9:30. But he cannot go on without giving expression to the deep grief which the situation causes him. He assures his brethren, his readers in the congregation at Rome and elsewhere, that the salvation of the Jews is a matter of prayerful concern to him, that he feels anything but satisfaction at the necessity devolving upon him to speak of their rejection by God. His kind and earnest desire in their behalf, the supreme wish of his heart, which finds its expression in his supplication to God, is their salvation. That is the object which he has in mind as he makes his plea before God, as he intercedes in their behalf, that they might obtain salvation. Far from desiring to exaggerate and to play up the evil of their conduct, the apostle is rather inclined to give them full credit for whatever may be commendable in their behavior. He bears them witness, he is perfectly willing to testify in their behalf that they have a zeal for God, toward God. So much one must acknowledge and yield to them, that they are not indifferent to God and to His glory. For centuries they had held fast to the doctrine and cult of their fathers as they understood it, even enduring bloody persecutions for the sake of Jehovah. And they believed that by this insistence upon the outward formalities of religion they were meriting salvation, Acts 26:7. But in spite of all this well-meant effort their zeal was not in accordance with correct knowledge. Their lack of proper knowledge was not only an intellectual, but also a moral fault. In spite of all the teaching on the part of the prophets, they persisted in their external worship, refusing to accept the proper knowledge of God. A service of God as they had developed it for themselves they adhered to, and all other opinions were rejected by them. But the true zeal for God and His glory stays within the bounds of God's revelation and does not follow human opinion.

And now Paul pictures the contrast to his own desire and prayer in the behavior of the Jews according to their false knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not placed themselves under the righteousness of God. Instead of the proper knowledge the Jews showed ignorance; instead of having the true righteousness, hey were bound to bring out their own. God has found a way of justifying sinners; He has prepared for them a perfect righteousness: He offers them this righteousness in the Gospel But because the Jews are willfully ignorant of this righteousness of God, because they maliciously ignore His justification and are determined to set up their own righteousness of works, therefore they would not and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God, the divine order and arrangement for the salvation of men, the way of justification. And therefore all their zeal for God will avail them nothing, since they refuse to see the one way of salvation, by the acceptance of the righteousness of God through faith.

And Paul brings another proof that the pursuit of one's own righteousness by the observance of the Law is a mistake and cannot result in salvation: For the end of the Law is Christ unto righteousness to everyone that believes. Christ is the end of the Law: He has fulfilled all its demands perfectly, in every detail, and therefore in Christ the Law has found its end, its termination. That the Law still has its value, even in the Church of the New Testament, the apostle has shown above, 3:20; 7:7 ff. The Law, being fulfilled by Christ, can no more accuse and condemn us, for full and complete righteousness is now present and ready for every one that believes; that is the aim of Christ's being the end of the Law. A person need but accept the fulfillment of the Law, the perfect obedience rendered to the Law by Christ, and he will, by such faith, be the possessor of the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him in and by the act of justification. And this is true not because of any intrinsic merit in the act of faith, but because it is the only means of apprehending and appropriating the righteousness of Christ as gained for us. In this way v. 4. is a summary of the entire Gospel message.