Romans 10:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If Christ is the goal of the Law, then one who does not have Christ does not have righteousness, even if he thinks he has it. But one who has Christ has attained everything, even if he has not fulfilled the Law.

The goal of medical treatment is health. One who can make a man healthy has everything, even if he does not know the medical art.

One who cannot heal loses everything, even if he thinks he is following the art. So it is also with the Law and faith.

Whoever has faith has reached the goal of the Law. Whoever is outside faith is a stranger both to faith and to the Law.

What exactly did the Law desire? To make man righteous. But it proved powerless, because no one fulfilled the Law.

Such was the goal of the Law. Toward this everything inclined. For this everything was done: feasts, commandments, sacrifices, and all the rest, so that man might be justified.

But Christ reached this goal more surely through faith. Therefore, the Apostle says, do not fear that you violate the Law after you have come to faith.

You transgress the Law when, because of the Law, you do not believe in Christ. But when you believe in Him, you have also fulfilled the Law, and much more.

For you have attained a much greater righteousness.

“The end of the Law is Christ,” that is, its fulfillment.

Just as the Savior, when He came, became the completion of the Law and the Prophets, so the Spirit is the completion of the Gospel. Christ, when He came, completed in Himself what had been spoken by the Father in the Law and through the prophets.

Therefore Paul says, “Christ is the fulfillment of the Law” (cf. Rom 10:4). The Holy Spirit, when He came, completed what belongs to the Gospel.

What is in the Law, Christ completes. What is in the teaching of Christ, the Spirit completes. This is not because the Father is imperfect.

Rather, as Christ appeared confirming what is the Father’s, so the Holy Spirit also appeared confirming what is the Son’s.

He fulfilled the Law for us. It is truly worthy of wonder that He not only fulfilled the Law Himself, but also granted its fulfillment to us.

Paul explains this when he says that “the end of the Law is Christ, unto righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4). He also says that He “condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh” (Rom 8:3-4).

Elsewhere he says: “Do we then make void the Law through faith? Certainly not. Rather, we establish the Law” (Rom 3:31).

Since the goal of the Law was to make man righteous, which it nevertheless could not do, the Lord Himself satisfied this purpose of the Law.

He descended to earth and established the manner of justification through faith. What the Law could not do through letters, Christ Himself accomplished through faith. Therefore He says, “I did not come to destroy” the Law.

And you also, Jew who has not yet believed, do not hope to accomplish righteousness according to the law by yourself. Christ is its fulfiller. Therefore, if you wish to receive righteousness, receive Christ by faith, and you will have everything.

"But after man tasted of that forbidden tree and died a bitter death, that is, fell away from God and became subject to corruption, the law was then given to him.

"It was given so that he might not fall away entirely from every good. For evil had greatly spread through the human race and tyrannized it violently, because of the grievous weakness to which man had been subjected through corruption.

"The law was given to show what is good and what is evil. For man became blind, went out of his mind, and lost understanding. Therefore he had need of instruction."

Considered from its inward side, apart from its adaptation to the temporary and particular circumstances of one people's life, this law did not lose its significance. It preserved its force for Christians also.

It is precisely in this sense that Jesus Christ says of this inward law: "I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it" (Mt 5:17). That is, He came to raise it to higher perfection. He also advised His followers to fulfill it (Mt 19:17 and following).

In this sense Blessed Theodoret writes: “Faith in the Lord is not contrary to the Law, but is very much in agreement with it. The Law guided us to the Master Christ. Therefore the one who believes in the Master Christ fulfills the Law’s purpose.”

This is, in a certain way, the abstract end of the Law in Christ. But in Him there is also the actual end of the Law. The words that follow speak of this: “unto righteousness for everyone who believes.”

The Law has the goal of making men righteous. Whoever fulfilled it as one should would be righteous. But no one was strong enough for such fulfillment.

Christ alone gives strength for this to those who believe in Him. Receiving this strength, they become truly righteous according to the full breadth of the Law.

They receive justification for what they sinned against the Law. They are also clothed with power to act in everything according to the Law.

Thus Christ is “unto righteousness for everyone who believes,” that is, for the gift of righteousness because of faith. Therefore He is also the end of the Law.

Righteousness through faith in Christ is true legal righteousness. Legal righteousness by itself, without faith in Christ, is not true righteousness.

There were righteous men even under the Law, but only because they believed in the coming Christ. Without this, they would not have been righteous.

Now all who believe in Christ the Lord, who has already come, are legally righteous. The righteousness is one and the same both there and here.

The Jews did not understand this. According to their own thinking they fashioned for themselves a deceptive image of righteousness. They do not submit to God’s righteousness concerning Christ Jesus, and they remain outside righteousness, although they are zealous for it.

Chrysostom says: “Notice Paul’s prudence. Since he called both things, the Law and the Gospel, righteousness, believing Jews might think that they possessed one righteousness but lacked the other, and for this reason were accused of lawlessness. Unbelieving Jews might hope to fulfill righteousness and might say: if until now we have not fulfilled it, surely we will fulfill it. See, then, what the Apostle does. He proves that righteousness is one, that legal righteousness is contained in the righteousness according to faith. Whoever has acquired righteousness according to faith has also fulfilled legal righteousness. Whoever has rejected the first has also been deprived of the latter. For if the end of the Law is Christ, then the one who does not have Christ, even if he thinks he has righteousness, does not have it. The one who has Christ, even if he has not fulfilled the Law, has acquired everything. The goal of medical treatment is health. The one who can make a man healthy, even if he does not possess the medical art, possesses everything. The one who cannot heal, even if he thinks he is acting according to the art, has nothing. So one must speak of the Law and faith. Whoever has faith has reached the goal of the Law. Whoever is outside faith is a stranger both to faith and to the Law. For what did the Law want? To make man righteous. But it could not do this, because no one fulfilled the Law. Such was the end of the Law. Toward this everything inclined. For this everything was introduced: feasts, commandments, sacrifices, and all the rest, so that man might thereby be justified. But Christ attained this goal more surely through faith. Therefore, the Apostle says, do not fear that by coming to faith you have transgressed the Law. You transgress the Law when, for the sake of the Law, you do not believe in Christ. But when you believe in Him, you fulfill the Law, even far more than was commanded in the Law. For you have acquired a much greater righteousness.”

When the Apostle said, “for everyone who believes,” he thereby abolished every distinction by birth and blood. Whoever you may be, only believe in Christ, and the end of the Law will be accomplished in you.

That is, you too will be righteous. “The Apostle spoke beautifully when he said, ‘for everyone who believes,’ because he embraced the whole human nature. Whether one is a Greek or a barbarian, if he believes, he will obtain salvation” (Blessed Theodoret).