In this thread we shall see how Christ is the end of the law.
The Bible says:
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Firstly what is a law? A law is a "rule, regulation, principle, convention, direction, instruction, guideline, practice".
A law imposes restrictions.
A law puts a person under a restriction in order to satisfy some criteria of being right. The quality of being right, is known as righteousness.
Every person, regardless of their religion, even atheists, lives according to some kind of law. These laws govern their behaviour and show who their Lord and King is.
In relation to our spiritual life, there are 3 main laws:
The Law of Judaism (Moses), the law of Christianity, the law of the self.
The law of Judaism and Christianity are of course the regulations, even expectations of those religions. The law of Judaism includes the Law of Moses, plus all of the other traditions of men and rules and regulations imposed by various Rabbis. The law of Christianity includes all of the laws and expectations of Christianity over the past 2000 years. If we attend different denominations we will be exposed to different kinds of Christian laws - for example the Catholic laws are different to the Baptist laws.
The law of self - are the self-imposed laws, including the desires and intentions to do something good. For example when we say "I intend to work for God and do great things for Him." "I intend to be a better person." "I must love my wife more", I" must be a better person", "I must be more organized or more neat in my appearance". Even when we pray "God help me do this or that", we are under the law of the self. Even a desire or intention to pray at a certain time of the day can become a law of the self. Because we are weak in our flesh, we will no doubt break this law, our conscience will condemn us, we will feel bad, and we will try to do better next time. The law makes us slaves, but Christ sets us free from the law and gives us freedom (Gal 5:1).
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
What is righteousness? Righteousness means being right and to be right means to be under a certain law. To be under a certain law means to be obedient to a certain authority of that law, in order to please that authority. The law of the self wants to be right with the self so that we please our self. The law of the Christianity wants to be right with Christianity to please Christianity. Whatever law we bring ourselves under to obey, we make the author of that law our Lord and King. If we bring ourselves under the Law of Moses, then Moses is our Lord and King. If the Law of Christianity, then our Lord and King is our particular organization, or our favourite Christian book author, or our local church pastor, or the Papal authorities (Catholic). When we impose self-made rules and regulations upon ourselves, then we are holding ourselves accountable to our self, not to Christ. Effectively, if we are under the law of the self, then our self is Lord and King in our life, and not Christ. We should have no other Lord and King in the universe, neither Judaism, Christianity, or the self (Luke 9:23).
Christ is the end of the law simply because Christ is our Lord and King, and being in Christ, we no longer have need of any law, in fact, in Christ we died to law (Col 2:20-23). But how does Christ set us free from the law? Yes Christ died on the cross as an objective fact, and in a legal sense fulfilled God's requirements. But this does not explain how Christ sets us free practically from keeping the law. The lesson from the life of the apostle Paul, is that Christ sets us free from the law by blinding us. This blindness stops us and causes us to not know where to go or what to do. As a law-keeping Jew, Paul knew where to go and what to do, he had a set purpose, a set plan, he had the law to guide him, and no doubt felt satisfied in himself that he was right (self-righteousness). But when Christ met Paul, Paul's religious and law-based activities were stopped, he became blind (Acts 9:3-4), and he didn't know what to do or where to go. Thus, this blindness causes us to rely upon Christ completely and ends our human activity which is motivated by keeping a certain law. Another example is that when Christ came to Mary and Martha, Mary's activities were stopped and she simply sat at Jesus' feet and listened (Luke 10:38-42).
When we truly see Christ, we will be blinded. Blinded to the Law of Moses, blinded to our self-made laws, blinded to the laws of Christianity. This blindness will cause us to be stopped in our human activities trying to keep the laws, as the only thing we will see and know is Christ. Christ as the end of the law, means that Christ our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30), stops us from being under the law of Judaism, the law of Christianity, the law of the self.
For example, suppose a man is unkind to his wife. Under the law, in regards to kindness, the law of Moses says he should love others, the law of Christianity also says he should treat his wife lovingly, and the law of his self is activated when he imposes a self-made rule upon his behaviour. If he attempts to keep these laws, he will most likely fail, and be burdened in his conscience. He may even pray, "yesterday I was unkind to my wife, today I will try to be kinder, O God help me be kinder", but it does him no good. Suppose this man succeeds through effort and will power, and is kinder the next day, then he will feel good about himself that he has kept the law of self, and this will result in self-righteousness. This is a classic example of a self-imposed law. It has nothing to do with Christ, as this man wants to be kind to his wife so that he may please himself.
If we truly see Christ, Christ will blind us, Christ will stop us, we will simply be beholding Christ (2 Cor 3:18). Paul said in Phil 1:21, "to me, to live is Christ". If we live in this way, it will cause us to spontaneously be kind to our wife because of Christ, not because of any self-imposed laws. The Christian life is described as a narrow way (Matt 7:13-14). It is narrow not because it has 10,000 rules to keep, but because it is about following Christ alone, not any laws or regulations. To follow Christ, means we behold Him as our Lord and King, even as our Head (in the corporate sense of the Body), we are effectively blinded to the law, and we undertake to obey Christ in whatever way He leads us. We may not be a law-keeping Jew like Paul was, but we may be just as bound by self-imposed laws, that we need Christ to free us from by blinding us.
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