The end of the Law and The end of the Lord

Have you ever read Romans 10:4 and wondered, “What does this mean?” My husband read it over the dinner table tonight and he asked us all what it meant...We were stumped. Thankfully he had done his homework and explained it to us. Of course I believed him...but somethings I must walk through myself to cement them in my brain...so this is what I learned:

Romans 10:4 "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." KJV

Most Christians wouldn’t think twice about THIS verse - it fits so snuggly into most Christian doctrines. However, for those who believe that Messiah edified and pointed people back to YHVH’s Ways (Torah) and did not abolish it…this is something that must be explored!! Could we be wrong? Did Yahshua “end” the Law (Torah) like Paul seems to say here??? If so…we must reconsider our own doctrine! It is worthless if it wrongly paints a the picture of our Creator or Messiah! It is He whom I cling to!

To properly grasp the meaning of Romans 10:4 we must first understand what Paul meant by the phrase “the end of the law.”

The Greek word translated “end” is telos (Strong’s #5056), meaning “the point aimed at; result or goal".

According to Strongs, the proper usage or understanding would be to - insert the word "goal" or "target" or "result" in this verse instead of "end" and see if that clarifies the meaning for you. It certainly did for us!

Our typical understanding of "end" means "finished, abolished, done away with"...but is simply is not what the usage of "end" means here! I searched many English Translations and found this usage of the word "end" was used by every version I checked! It is very interesting, don't you think? We looked further and saw that there was another place this word occurred in KJV but not in other translations:

James 5:11 (King James Version) 11Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

"End" is the same Greek word, telos (Strongs 5056) used here. Other translations use different words like, "outcome", and "purpose" to better reflect the proper meaning of the Greek word telos in this verse. Please understand, I am not sharing this information to have a "KJV bashing party"; I just want to help us all see the reality of the Bible Translation into ANY language includes a hint of Doctrine and Theology as a part of translation process. It includes the bias of the translator and the word usage may be obscure....so it would do us well to get really familiar with Strongs, Interlinear Bibles and study tools to help us understand these precious Words that we build our lives upon. YHVH is perfect, Yahshua is perfect, His ways are perfect...His plan is perfect, His Word is a lamp unto our feet...but man is not perfect!

Walk humbly, be edified and build up the whole Body so that we may all "see the end of the Lord"!

In Him,