Romanos 10:4

DISCOURSE: 1889
CHRIST THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Romanos 10:4. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

ZEAL, if directed to a good object, is highly commendable: as the Apostle says, “It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing.” In reference to the concerns of religion, it is indispensably necessary for all who would approve themselves to God: “Whatever our hand findeth to do, we should do it with our might.” But in proportion to its value when operating in a good cause, is the danger of it, when engaged on the side of error. This appears from the havoc which Paul in his unconverted state made of the Christian Church; purely from a desire to render, as he thought, an acceptable service to the Lord. Such, alas! is yet the zeal of too many: it is well-intentioned, but blind, and ignorant, and injurious: nevertheless, such a zeal, conscientiously exercised, at all times deserves respect, and should be treated with respect even by those who suffer from it. The conduct of the Apostle towards the unbelieving Jews was, in this point of view, worthy of universal imitation. He was constrained to tell them that they were in error, and that their error was replete with danger to their souls: but he told them of it in terms as conciliatory as love could dictate, or language could afford. He assured them, that they were objects of his tenderest regard, and that he felt the deepest anxiety for their welfare. He even bare testimony in their behalf, that, in the zeal they manifested, they had an unfeigned desire to serve God: but unhappily they were mistaken in their views of the Mosaic law, which was never intended to afford them a justifying righteousness, but was designed rather to lead them to that very Jesus whom they so hated and despised, and who was indeed “the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
The information here given to them is of vital importance to every child of man. To place it in a just point of view, we propose to shew,

I. What is that righteousness which God has provided for fallen man—

In the verse preceding our text, mention is twice made of “the righteousness of God;” by which expression we are not to understand that attribute of the Deity which we call righteousness, but that way of obtaining righteousness and salvation which God has provided for sinful men. In this sense the expression is used in other parts of this epistle, especially in the third chapter; where it is said, “The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is unto all, and upon all, them that believe [Note: Romanos 3:21.].” But,

What kind of righteousness is this?
[However much God may graciously desire the salvation of men, we cannot for a moment imagine, that for the attainment of it he will disregard the claims, and violate the rights, of justice, or holiness, or truth. We may be sure, that, if he has provided a righteousness for man, that righteousness will be found consistent with all his perfections, and with the honour of his moral government. How such a righteousness could be devised, was far beyond the reach of finite wisdom to conceive: but God’s wisdom is infinite; and he has, by the substitution of his own Son in the place of sinners, provided precisely such a righteousness as was worthy of God, and suited to the necessities of man. The law required obedience, and denounced death as the penalty of one single transgression. Man transgressed its commands, and became obnoxious to its curse. Before he could be restored to the favour of his God, the penalty must be inflicted, and the obedience paid. But this it was impossible for man to do, seeing that the penalty was everlasting death; and man was despoiled of all power to do the will of God. Therefore God was pleased to send his co-equal, co-eternal Son into the world, that, as man’s substitute, he might endure the curse which we had merited, and render the obedience which we owed. Thus, by this wonderful contrivance, every obstacle to man’s salvation is removed. Must the penalty denounced against sin be inflicted? It has been inflicted on God’s only dear Son. Must the law be fulfilled in all its extent? It has been fulfilled to the uttermost by him. So that to those who have him for their surety, there is a plea in arrest of judgment; a plea, which God himself will admit, as just, and adequate, and perfectly consistent with his own honour.]
And where shall we find this righteousness?
[It is treasured up for us in Christ Jesus; who, having been sent into the world, “to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness [Note: Daniel 9:24.],” executed the work assigned him: and, being now constituted the Head of his Church, and having all fulness of spiritual blessings treasured up in him for our use, he imparts this righteousness to every one who truly believes in him. Indeed, he is himself made righteousness unto them; as St. Paul has said, “He is of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness [Note: 1 Coríntios 1:30.].” This shews how we are to understand that declaration of the Prophet Jeremiah, “This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness [Note: Jeremias 23:6.].” We are not merely to compliment our Saviour with this title, but really and truly to rely upon him in this particular view, as possessing in himself all that righteousness whereby we are to be justified, and as imparting it to all, who are united to him by faith. In a word, we must all “look unto him in order to obtain salvation,” and, with an express recollection, that all which we have is not in ourselves, but in him, “we must say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength [Note: Isaías 45:22; Isaías 45:24.].”]

What an agreement there is between the Old and the New Testament in relation to this righteousness, will appear, whilst we shew,

II.

How the law itself directs us to it—

Had the Jews understood the true import of their own law, they would never have rejected Christ: for he was the very scope and end,

1. Of the moral law—

[The law, when given to man in innocence, was intended to justify him, if he should continue to obey it to the termination of the period destined for his probation. But when once he had fallen, there was no possibility of his ever obtaining justification by it. We, as partakers of his guilt and corruption, are in the same predicament with him: “in him we have died;” and, if ever we obtain life, we must seek it in the way pointed out to him, even in that “Seed of the woman that was in due time to bruise the serpent’s head.” St. Paul tells us, that, “if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law [Note: Gálatas 3:21.].” But this being impossible, (since man in his fallen state could not fulfil it, nor could God, consistently with his own holiness, relax its demands,) God re-published it from Mount Sinai, to shew unto men how greatly they had departed from it, and to drive them by its terrors to that Refuge which he had prepared for them. That these were the true ends for which the law was given, is expressly asserted: St. Paul puts the question, “Wherefore then serveth the law?” And he answers it by saying, that “it was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should, come to whom the promise was made.” It was given to convince them of their transgressions, to stop their mouths with a sense of their guilt and misery [Note: Gálatas 3:19. with Romanos 3:19.]; and to “shut them up unto the faith that should afterwards be revealed.” In a word, instead of ever being given to afford a ground of hope to men by their obedience to it, it was intended “to be a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith [Note: Gálatas 3:22.].” Haw it effected this, may be seen in the Apostle Paul, whose hopes it utterly destroyed, and whom it constrained to seek acceptance through Christ alone [Note: Romanos 7:9.]

2. Of the ceremonial law—

[This, it is true, was appointed to make an atonement for sins, so far as to screen the transgressor from the penalties that were to be inflicted by the civil magistrate. But it never really took away sin: “it was not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins [Note: Hebreus 10:4.].” The annual repetition of the same sacrifices shewed, that “they could not make a man perfect as pertaining to the conscience:” they were, in fact, only “remembrances of sins made every year,” in order to direct men to that Great Sacrifice, which should in due time be offered, and which alone could effect reconciliation for us with our offended God [Note: Hebreus 9:9; Hebreus 10:3.]. The very circumstance of the ceremonial law making no provision for the expiation of presumptuous sin, shewed that it could not answer the necessities of fallen man [Note: Números 15:30.]. Hence the Apostle tells us, that the law was only a “shadow of good things to come [Note: Hebreus 10:1.];” a shadow, of which Christ was the body [Note: Colossenses 2:17.]. Agreeably to this, the most noted types of Christ are expressly applied to him, as having in his own person fulfilled their office, and abrogated their use. The paschal lamb proclaimed to Israel, that unless their houses were sprinkled with its blood, they would fall by the sword of the destroying angel: and St. Paul says to us, that “Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us [Note: 1 Coríntios 5:7.].” Again, the lamb offered every morning and evening in sacrifice, we are told, shadowed forth the Lord Jesus Christ, as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world [Note: Apocalipse 13:8.],” even that “Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world [Note: João 1:29.].” In a word, all the sacrifices proclaim to us this truth, that “without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Thus it appears, that neither the moral nor ceremonial law could provide us with any righteousness wherein we might stand before God; but that both the one and the other directed us to Christ, “in whom alone all the seed of Israel can be justified, and in whom alone they must glory [Note: Isaías 45:25.].”]

But it remains yet to be inquired,

III.

In what way we are to be made partakers of it—

In reference to this there exist amongst us, even as among the Jews, the most fatal mistakes.
The great mass of those who feel a concern about their souls, seek for righteousness by the works of the law—
[As for those who really think that their own works have such an exalted merit in them, as to deserve heaven of themselves without any reference whatever to Christ, we would fondly hope, that they are very rarely to be found amongst us. But there are two ways in which men, whilst they profess some reliance upon Christ, do in reality make their own works the foundation of their hopes; namely, by looking for salvation by their works for Christ’s sake, or by Christ for their works’ sake. There are a great many shades of difference between persons who may be arranged under these two heads, and many nice distinctions have been drawn in order to shew the various delusions which men harbour in their minds in reference to this subject: but all this different classes may be safely reduced to these two.

Let us pause a moment, to consider whether we ourselves do not belong to the one or other of them.
There are many who, as we have said, seek salvation by their works for Christ’s sake. They will not go so far as to say, that Christ has done nothing for man’s salvation: on the contrary, they think that they are much indebted to him; for that to him they owe it, that their imperfect obedience shall be accepted for their justification before God. They do indeed suppose that their repentance, their reformation of life, their alms-deeds, and their attendance on divine ordinances, will procure to them the favour of God: but then it is not because these things are absolutely meritorious, so as to deserve and purchase heaven; but because the Lord Jesus Christ has procured a relaxation of the perfect law of God, and obtained for them that their sincere obedience shall be accepted instead of perfect obedience. And, if their obedience should not be altogether sufficient for the desired end, they expect he will add a portion of his merits to theirs, so that there shall be no deficiency upon the whole.

But a very little knowledge of God’s perfect law is sufficient to dispel this fatal delusion. The law neither is mitigated, nor can be mitigated: it never can require less than it did. It required of man to love God with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and to love his neighbour as himself. But from which of these has God released us? or from which, consistently with his own honour, can he release us? The law remains the same as ever it was, both in its requirements and its penalties: and, as our works never did, nor ever can, come up to its demands, it can never do any thing but denounce a curse against us, as long as we continue under it: as the Apostle says, “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse;” for it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them [Note: Gálatas 3:10.].” Whilst therefore it curses us, it of course can never justify: nor can our defective obedience to it form any part of our justifying righteousness before God.

When men are driven from this refuge, they then flee to the other, of which we have spoken, and look for justification by Christ for their works’ sake. They see that in Christ alone can be found such a righteousness as the law requires; and they now look to him as their righteousness. But yet they dare not go to him, as it were, with all their sins upon them; they think they must wash themselves first with the tears of penitence, and make some compensation for their past iniquities by newness of life: and then they hope that he will accept them, and present them faultless before his heavenly Father. And if they cannot see in themselves such a measure of penitence and reformation as they think necessary to recommend them to him, they dare not go to him: they think it would be presumption in them to trust in him: they cannot conceive how his mercy should extend to such wretches as they see themselves to be. On the other hand, if by much prayer and diligence they have attained some measure of the goodness which they are striving after, then, I say, they can go to him with courage, and feel a comfortable persuasion that he will accept them. Thus they found their hopes, not simply on his merits, but on some measure of goodness in themselves, which they carry with them as a price to purchase his favour. But the Scriptures tell us, that we must go to receive salvation at Christ’s hands, “without money and without price [Note: Isaías 55:1.]:” that salvation must be wholly of grace, from first to last [Note: Romanos 11:6.]: that we must go without any work whatever, to be “justified by him as ungodly [Note: Romanos 4:5.]:” and that, if we attempt to carry to him any thing of our own, either as a joint ground of our hope, or as a warrant for our hope, in him, “he shall profit us nothing [Note: Gálatas 5:2; Gálatas 5:4.].”]

But we must be made partakers of Christ’s righteousness solely and entirely by faith—
[This is asserted so strongly, and so frequently, that one can scarcely conceive how any one who has ever read the Scriptures should entertain a doubt of it. Nor is it asserted only, but maintained frequently, in a long course of argument in direct opposition to the Jewish notion of salvation by works [Note: Romanos 4:1.]. The reasons for it also are stated again and again. Salvation “is by faith, that it may be by grace [Note: Romanos 4:16.].” It is “by faith, lest any man should boast [Note: Efésios 2:8.].” It is by faith, that the whole universe may glory in Christ alone [Note: 1 Coríntios 1:31.]. But the reproof which Paul gave to Peter at Antioch puts this matter in the clearest light. Peter had preached to the Gentiles, salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some Judaizing teachers, who, whilst they professed to believe in Christ, were zealous for the observance of the Mosaic law, coming thither, he feared to offend them; and, to ingratiate himself with them, he required the Gentiles to conform to some Mosaic rites to which they had never before been subjected, and from which the Jews themselves, had they known their liberty, were free. We are not told that Peter promised them salvation by these works: but he evidently taught them, that, though Christ was the only Saviour, they might recommend themselves to him, and confirm their interest in him, by the observance of these rites. Thus, in fact, he adulterated and undermined the Gospel, and endangered the eternal welfare of all his followers. On this account St. Paul blamed and reproved him before the whole Church: and the reprehension which he gave to Peter has been transmitted to us, that we may see of what importance it is to maintain the doctrine of salvation by faith, uncontaminated and undisguised. Hear the account which Paul himself gives of it: “When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified [Note: Gálatas 2:14,].” This shews us, that nothing is to be blended with, and nothing to be added to, the faith of Christ; but that all who are justified, must be justified simply, and solely, by faith in Christ.

We must not be understood to say, that good works are not necessary after we are justified; for they are indispensably necessary, to prove the sincerity of our faith: but it is in reference to the matter of justification only that we now speak: and there they must be excluded altogether. Christ is our only righteousness: and it is b faith only that we can ever apprehend him.]

The whole state of the Apostle’s argument in the passage before us, leads us to conclude with the following advice:
1.

Seek not to establish any righteousness of your own—

[Self-righteousness is deeply rooted in the heart of man. Its workings are numerous and subtle: and the danger arising from it is more than can be conceived. It robs God of his glory: it subverts the very foundations of the Gospel: it usurps the office of the Saviour: it invades the unalienable prerogatives of God. Do not think it a light sin. Do not hastily conclude that you are free from it. Search and try your hearts: see what is the ground of your hopes: see whether you are willing to go to Christ as the very chief of sinners; or whether you are not rather wishing to find some worthiness in yourselves, that may serve as a ground of confidence in your approaches to him, and as a foundation of your hope of acceptance with him. For be assured, that if you stumble at this stumbling-stone, you will frustrate the grace of God, and cause the death of Christ, as far as respects yourselves, to be in vain [Note: Gálatas 2:21.]

2. Submit humbly and cheerfully to the righteousness of Christ—

[Strange indeed is it that it should be any act of submission to believe in Christ: but it is in reality such a submission as our proud hearts are never brought to without much difficulty. We may see how a spirit of pride wrought in Naaman, when he was told by the prophet to “wash in Jordan, and be clean.” Had he been told to do some great thing, he would have complied immediately: but to “wash in Jordan” appeared to be so inadequate a remedy, that he would not condescend to try it. Thus, when we say to men, “Believe, and be saved,” we seem to propose to them a remedy of no value. Were we to lay down rules for them, and tell them what penances to inflict on themselves, and what services to perform in order to the purchasing of heaven, we should find them willing to undertake whatever we might prescribe. The very thought of being their own saviours would suffice to carry them through the greatest difficulties. But when we say to them, “Believe only, and ye shall be saved,” they are ready, like Naaman, to “turn away in a rage.” This however is what we are commissioned to say: and, if an angel from heaven were to give you any direction contrary to that, he would be accursed [Note: Gálatas 1:8.]. O let your hearts be humbled before God. Methinks, when Jesus said to the lepers, “Go and shew yourselves to the priests;” or, when to the blind man, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam,” they found no reluctance to comply. Why then should you? Can you cleanse your own leprosy? Can you open your own eyes? Can you effect your own salvation? No assuredly, you cannot. If any man could have saved himself, methinks it was the Apostle Paul. But he, disclaiming all thoughts of ever accomplishing such a work, “desired to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ [Note: Filipenses 3:9.].” Be ye, brethren, like-minded with him; and then you may, like him, be “always triumphing in Christ,” and be assured, that, “when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory [Note: Colossenses 3:4].”]