Christ Is the Fulfillment of the Law to Everyone Who Believes
1Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved. 2For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.” 6But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); 7or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)” 8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 9that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.
Israel, whom God had specially chosen, did not understand what the law demanded, and so they thought they could be saved by works. The Jews strove to the point of death to observe a strict and painful law, and they took this to be the way to believe in God. But human effort that had strayed from the truth, though it kept the law with all its might, met with God’s wrath. The Jews believed that since God had given the law to them, if only they kept it well they would fulfill the righteousness of God and have their faith acknowledged. Their ignorance of the word kept them from being led to Jesus Christ. They did not understand that salvation is received by faith in Christ, just as Romans 9:32 says: “Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone”.
God gave the law with this meaning in it: since no one can keep the law perfectly, we must believe in Jesus Christ, who completes the law and is the fulfillment of the law. But the Jews looked at the righteousness of God from the standpoint of works. Because their view of God’s righteousness was wrong from the start, they met Jesus Christ and did not recognize him; worse, they set themselves against Christ, who would not credit the works of the Jews.
Peter told the Gentiles that if they put away all wickedness and, as newborn babies, longed for the pure spiritual milk, they would come to salvation. He was stressing that salvation is not received by works, just as a newborn baby can do nothing. God gladly accepts the faith of the Gentiles, who have no merit, like a newborn baby; as a result they have become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices. Since Jesus is the precious living stone, Peter said, the Gentiles, who have no merit at all, have been made through Jesus Christ a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. The Jews still could not let go of the idea that the law had to be kept by works, and they wanted God to recognize their service. But from the beginning God decreed that salvation is received by faith, and he said that those who try to be saved by works will trip over the stone of stumbling and fall. To those who believe, Christ is precious; but to those who do not believe — that is, to the Jews — he becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and so they have now stumbled over Christ.
We, too, must think carefully about this word. If we hear that Christ’s words are life and yet do not grow into a mature faith, but try to achieve salvation by our own zeal, Christ will become a stone of stumbling to us. A faith that credits itself — I never missed a Sunday service, I gave my offerings, I lived a decent life — is not a right faith, and for that reason God does not approve it. No one can be saved by works; only when we hold the faith that relying on Christ is the way of salvation do our works of faith become a reward. It is written that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will not be disappointed. If you recognize that sinners cannot enter the Kingdom of God and live as his people should, with humble faith, Christ will be a hedge of protection around you and will set you free from Satan’s attacks.
When Israel returned to their homeland after seventy years of captivity, they believed they had suffered because of their sins. Thinking that the way to restore their relationship with God was to keep the law perfectly, they made even more laws and tried to keep them.
Matthew 15:2
2“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.”
To keep the law perfectly, the Jews created the tradition of the elders. The tradition of the elders served as a kind of manual, showing how the law was to be kept in practice so as not to sin against God. It was written to explain the law simply, so it kept growing in volume until even they could not remember it all. Not knowing what the law truly demanded, they were in the end rebuked by Jesus. He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith.” He was rebuking them for abandoning the heart of the word and keeping only what was worthless. Even today, it is said, some Jews who keep the tradition of the elders believe that flipping a light switch on the Sabbath breaks the law, so they call in a Gentile to turn on the lights. Such zeal has nothing to do with God; it is misguided zeal.
The law is not something to be kept by works. Christ has already fulfilled the law that no one could keep, so the law serves as a guide, leading us to give up our own righteousness and receive Christ. But those who cannot give up human righteousness fail to understand the law rightly, and this has carried them away from life and truth. Even now, those who practice their faith as they please, with no regard for the word, do not really know why they go to church. A mistaken belief that going to church will get them to heaven drives them to serve zealously, but this is the same faith as that of the Jews, who never fully understood the law. We must know exactly why we go to church, and know for certain why we must believe in Christ.
John 14:5-7
5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
Jesus said that to know him is to know God. God gave Israel the law to show them how to meet Jesus Christ, and Jesus said that this is the way to come to the Father. But they abandoned the truth and chose their own zeal and works. God has decreed that we be saved in the name of Jesus Christ. Because this is his law, there is no salvation in any other name. That is why Jesus said, “It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.” Jesus is the mystery God kept hidden for ages, and we who have received that mystery are, like the Jews, people who have received complete revelation; so if we receive Jesus Christ by faith, we receive eternal life. Now blessing and calamity are set before you, and the choice is yours.
Romans 10:1
1Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.
Paul has explained up to this point why the Jews stumbled over the living stone. Even knowing that they had turned away from Jesus Christ, Paul longed for his fellow Jews to accept the gospel. The Jews did not understand his love; they followed him from place to place and harassed him. Yet because this was a matter of salvation, on which eternity after death depends, Paul could not give up on them, even while they persecuted him. In verses 2 and 3 Paul tells the Gentiles that he testifies about the Jews that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, and that, seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Paul understood exactly why they had strayed from salvation.
The Jews were not saved, he said, because they abandoned God’s righteousness and, in trying to establish their own, did not follow right knowledge. He was showing how great a sin it is to be ignorant of the word. I have told you not to throw yourselves into church work while you do not yet know the Bible well; I said this to teach the right order of faith and service. Zeal that charges ahead without knowing the word makes a person proud. As it is written, pride goes before destruction, and someone grown proud through their own zeal does not easily turn back through the word. If you serve with the heart of a learner, listening to the counsel of those who have gone before you in faith and learning the word as you go, that service becomes a reward; but service that sets up your own righteousness is pride.
The Jews, who mistook keeping the law for faith in God, persecuted the church and killed Christians. They killed Christians because of their spiritual ignorance. In the church, too, we must be careful, because praising the zeal of someone who is spiritually ignorant is a mistake that drives them away from God and from salvation. Even among believers there are those who complain when their zeal goes unpraised. They say they served because they love God and the church, and when no one recognizes their zeal, they grumble and sometimes leave God and the church altogether. Someone who truly loves God does not seek the approval of people.
Because someone who takes in the word like worldly knowledge does not know what good intent is, they may, without realizing it, wrongly pass judgment even on spiritual matters. So we need to listen to the counsel of those who are mature in faith. For God’s people, goodness is not good behavior but believing in Christ. If we know that the word is the standard of what is good and train ourselves to live according to Christ’s words, we will come to judge rightly as a matter of course. But the Jews, not knowing the righteousness of God, are committing the sin of straying from salvation.
Romans 10:4
4For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The Gentiles had not received the law, but when they heard the gospel they realized it was the word of life and received Christ by faith. The Jews rejected Christ in order to keep the law, while the Gentiles were saved by receiving Christ. The law is the holy law God gave, so when people apply it to their lives, they can live a sound and truly human life. Christ has atoned for the sins of humanity in his own body, and so if we believe in Christ, the fulfillment of the law, and come to him, we can enter the Kingdom of God.
Deuteronomy 30:11-15
11For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.
In his last sermon Moses taught Israel how they must live in Canaan to be blessed, and what curse would fall on them if they disobeyed. From the exodus until they reached Canaan, they complained without ceasing, distrusted God, and attacked Moses. Even so, Moses led the people with love all the way to Canaan. But when God told him that because his work was finished, he would not enter Canaan, Moses gave the people a farewell sermon from the depths of his heart.
He told them that if they obeyed the voice of Yahweh, kept his commandments and statutes written in the book of the law, and turned to God with all their heart and soul, God would make them plenteous in all the work of their hands, in the fruit of their bodies, in the young of their livestock, and in the fruit of their ground, and would bless them as he had blessed their fathers in faith. He also told them that God’s word was not too hard or too distant: no one had to go up to heaven to bring down God’s commandment, and no one had to cross the sea to fetch it. He meant that receiving Christ and living by faith is not too hard. The word, he said, was in their very mouth and in their heart, so if only they made up their minds, they could do it; and because the word fills the whole world, there was no need to go searching for it.
The apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30 to say that Jesus Christ has already come into the world, forgiven our sins, and risen again, so he is not someone we have to go searching for; if you have faith, you can meet Christ. People think that because Jesus is very far away, he cannot know what they are doing right now and cannot help them in an emergency. They think he comes only when they call for him, so they are not afraid to sin and do not seek the Lord in ordinary times. But in verse 8 Paul says, “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach. The Lord is in your mouth and in your heart, so he hears what you say, and he gives you strength and power when you share the gospel. He knows every decision you make and why you made it. Since he is this close, if you pray when trouble comes, the Lord who dwells in your mouth and heart will guide your life so that you are not put to shame.
Romans 10:9-10
9that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Paul said that to mature in faith we must go through several steps. First we are to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and if we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. When people first come to church, they may not know Christ well. As they gradually learn the word, they come to understand the truth, and faith takes root. As faith grows, they realize what a rich blessing salvation is, and they give themselves to sharing the gospel for the salvation of others. Those who believe in their heart that Jesus rose from the dead are saved, and this shows how important an event the resurrection is. Had Jesus not risen, he would only have been revered by people as a god, and could not have become Lord. But because Christ conquered death, our salvation by faith became certain, and it was confirmed that we have been delivered from sin. Jesus is not a sage; he has become Lord of us all. We must not be ashamed to confess this Jesus Christ with our mouth. If we are not sure of the word, we cannot tell others about Jesus Christ, because it is hard to proclaim a Christ and a heaven of which we ourselves are not sure.
People take salvation lightly because they receive it freely. But since we are saved when we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, it is hard to be saved without the spiritual growth of believing the word in our heart. We have been saved freely by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, yet we fail to share the gospel, because we are not sure that God is living, nor sure of the eternal world we will go to after death. If we believed that heaven is a real place, we would rejoice to proclaim Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven.
Paul urges believers who do not share the gospel to know how holy and precious is the salvation they received freely, and to share it so that others too may enter heaven. We need the courage and conviction to speak of Christ and of heaven. What we need to watch for here is this: to preach the true gospel, we must first have a genuine faith that loves God and trusts him. If we have love for God and faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit will protect us so that we are not put to shame by the world or by evil spirits. Of course, we who live in this world may still suffer. But God will grant a full faith to those who do what is right, so that they are not attacked by the evil spirits.
Jesus Christ has become the fulfillment of the law. Because he is Lord of all people on earth, there is no distinction in the salvation received by those who believe in the risen Lord. The Jews looked down on the Gentiles, saying that as the chosen people they were different from them at the root. But in faith there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, so anyone who believes in Christ can be saved. It was because Israel rejected the gospel that the Gentiles who received it became God’s people; even so, we must pray for the salvation of the Jews. The apostle Paul longed so earnestly for their salvation that he would even provoke them to jealousy, and we Gentiles must pray for their salvation so that his heartfelt longing may be answered. Suppose, for example, that my child will not eat. To get my child to eat, I bring in the neighbor’s child and feed them in front of my own, so that jealousy will make my child eat. But if the neighbor’s child misunderstands, acts as though they had become my child, and mocks my own, the parent will never feed that neighbor’s child again. When the neighbor’s child understands the parent’s heart and helps my child to eat, the parent, grateful, will give that child an even greater love. If we understand this heart of God and pray for the Jews to return, God will be pleased, and he will work so that the church that prayed for the salvation of the Jews may be all the fuller. I hope you will keep a heart that is thankful for the salvation you received freely. If you live to lift up the name of God, he will give you grace to live a life without shame, for your life and for the peace of your soul. May all of you who have been saved in the name of the Lord always enjoy peace in him.