Romans 10:5

Romans 10:5. For. Here the Apostle enters upon a proof from the Old Testament, of his position that the one way of salvation is by faith (Romans 10:5-11). He cites the law against the law as a way of obtaining righteousness. Other citations follow, in support of similar positions. But this verse, in itself, is a direct proof of Romans 10:4.

Moses writeth that the man who hath done the righteousness which is of the law shall live in it. We here give a rendering of the text which seems to be better established. The critical questions, however, are not only numerous, but difficult to decide. The authority of the Sinaitic manuscript has turned the scale in regard to the following readings: ‘that' to be placed immediately after ‘writeth;' ‘these things' to be omitted; ‘in it,' referring to ‘righteousness,' to be substituted for ‘by (lit., in) them.' The acceptance of these changes alters the construction, as indicated in our rendering. The received text conforms more closely to the LXX. (Leviticus 18:5), which is an argument against it. In Galatians 3:12, where the Apostle quotes the same passage, the variations are slight, although ‘man' is to be omitted there, while it is retained here (as in the LXX.). It will appear then that the Apostle interprets the passage, instead of citing it directly, and his interpretation is obviously correct.

The man who hath done. The participle sums up the obedience as one act, which is the condition of ‘living'; the starting-point is not faith, but the exact and full performance of that which the law requires, which the Apostle here terms: the righteousness which is of the law. It is implied, but not directly asserted, that no one had thus fulfilled it.

Shall live in it, i.e., in this righteousness, ‘it will be the means of salvation and life for him who really does the law' (Godet). It has been maintained that ‘live,' in Leviticus 18:5, and similar Old Testament passages, refers only to temporal prosperity, but even the Jewish interpreters included more, and certainly ‘life' in the New Testament has an exalted meaning. Since the Apostle implies that the higher obedience and consequently the higher reward were unattainable, it has been urged that Moses could not have seemingly proposed any such meaning as is here involved. But this either dwarfs the moral scope of the law, or puts it in a false position: for the law, although made by the Jews merely an expression of the condition of a legal righteousness, was far more than this; it led to Christ (comp. Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:19-25). The antithesis between Romans 10:5-6 is relative, not absolute. Even the doing and living, so far as they became a reality, pointed to Christ, who by His vicarious doing and living makes us live and do.