What Does Paul Teach About the Law in Romans?¶

A Plain-English Summary of the Biblical Evidence

Few questions in Christian theology generate more debate than the apostle Paul's view of the law. The book of Romans is the primary battleground. Paul uses the word "law" (Greek: nomos) roughly 74 times in this single letter, and readers have long disagreed about what he means. Does Paul teach that the moral law -- the Ten Commandments -- was set aside when Christ came? Or does he teach that it continues as the standard of right and wrong for believers, with the Holy Spirit now enabling what human effort alone could never achieve? This study examines every major law passage in Romans to let Paul answer the question in his own words.

Paul Uses "Law" in More Than One Way¶

One of the first things that becomes clear when reading Romans carefully is that Paul does not always mean the same thing when he says "the law." He sometimes means the Torah as a whole, sometimes the moral law specifically, sometimes an operating principle or pattern, and sometimes the Old Testament Scriptures as a witness to God's plan.

For example, in Romans 3:27 Paul speaks of a "law of works" versus a "law of faith" -- these are not references to the Torah but to two different operating principles. In Romans 8:2, "the law of the Spirit of life" and "the law of sin and death" are likewise two principles at work, not the Mosaic code.

But when Paul identifies what he means by quoting specific content, it is always the Ten Commandments. In Romans 7:7 he quotes the tenth commandment:

"I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (Romans 7:7)

And in Romans 13:9, he quotes five commandments from the Decalogue by name:

"Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Romans 13:9)

Every time Paul puts specific content to the word "law" in Romans, that content turns out to be the Ten Commandments -- never ceremonial regulations, never civil statutes.

The Law Cannot Save, But It Reveals Sin¶

Paul makes it unmistakably clear that no one will be declared righteous before God by keeping the law. The law was never designed for that purpose:

"By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)

The law's role is diagnostic. It identifies sin. It shows us what is wrong with us. Paul experienced this personally when the tenth commandment exposed the covetousness in his own heart (Romans 7:7). The commandment was not the problem -- sin was. The law simply made the sin visible.

"Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." (Romans 7:8)

Paul also notes that the commandment "was ordained to life" -- its intended purpose was to lead to life (Romans 7:10). But sin twisted its effect, using the good commandment as an occasion to produce death. The fault lay in human nature, not in the law.

Faith Establishes the Law¶

A pivotal verse in Romans is 3:31, where Paul anticipates the objection that justification by faith might nullify the law:

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Romans 3:31)

Paul answers with the strongest possible denial in the Greek language -- "God forbid" (me genoito). Faith does not overthrow the law; it sets the law on a firm foundation. This is one of the most direct statements Paul makes anywhere about the ongoing validity of God's law.

Earlier in the same chapter, Paul observes that the righteousness God provides through faith was actually "witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Romans 3:21). The law itself pointed forward to the gospel. Later, in Romans 10:6-8, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30:12-14 and identifies it as "the righteousness which is of faith" speaking. The Torah itself was teaching about faith-righteousness all along.

The Law Is Holy, Just, Good, and Spiritual¶

Romans 7 contains Paul's most sustained personal reflection on the law. After using the tenth commandment to illustrate how the law exposes sin, he defends the law's character in powerful terms:

"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." (Romans 7:12)

"For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." (Romans 7:14)

The contrast Paul draws is between the law's holiness and his own carnality. The problem is not the law -- the problem is the sinful human nature that cannot keep it. Paul goes on to express his own inner attitude toward God's law:

"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." (Romans 7:22)

"So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7:25)

Paul delights in God's law. He serves it with his mind. In his inner being, the law is something to be embraced, not discarded. These are present-tense statements about Paul's ongoing experience as a believer.

"Not Under the Law" Does Not Mean Free to Sin¶

Romans 6:14 is one of the most commonly cited verses in debates about the law's status:

"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14)

What does Paul mean by "not under the law"? He answers in the very next verse:

"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." (Romans 6:15)

Paul immediately shuts down the idea that being "not under the law" gives anyone permission to sin. If the moral law were abolished, sin -- which is defined as breaking the law -- would be a meaningless concept. But Paul treats sin as very real and very serious for believers. His "God forbid" is the same emphatic denial he used in 3:31 when rejecting the idea that faith voids the law.

Reading "not under the law" in light of Paul's broader argument, particularly Romans 8:1 ("There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus"), the phrase refers to freedom from the law's condemning power -- its penalty and its jurisdiction as a death sentence over sinners -- not freedom from its moral authority.

Similarly, when Paul says believers are "dead to the law" and "delivered from the law" in Romans 7:4 and 7:6, the context must guide interpretation. In the very same chapter, he calls the law holy, just, good, and spiritual. Paul cannot mean the law itself is dead or abolished when he immediately turns around and praises it in the strongest terms.

The Spirit Fulfills the Law in Believers¶

The climax of Paul's law-theology in Romans comes in chapter 8:

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4)

Notice where the limitation lies: "weak through the flesh." The law was not defective. Human nature was. God sent His Son to deal with sin so that the law's righteous requirement could be fulfilled in believers who walk by the Spirit. The purpose of Christ's coming, according to this verse, is not to abolish the law but to enable its fulfillment.

Paul adds that the carnal mind, by its very nature, resists God's law:

"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7)

The law of God remains the standard to which minds should be subject. The carnal mind's refusal to submit is presented as the problem, not the law's existence.

Love Fulfills the Law's Specific Commands¶

In Romans 13, Paul draws together his teaching on love and law:

"He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:8-10)

Paul quotes five of the Ten Commandments by name and says love is the "fulfilling" of the law. The Greek word here is pleroma -- fullness or filling. Love fills the law up; it gives the law its full expression. Paul is not saying love replaces the law. He is saying love is how the law gets lived out. The specific commandments he quotes are the content that love fulfills.

Christ Is the Goal of the Law¶

Romans 10:4 is another debated verse:

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

The Greek word telos can mean either "termination" or "goal/purpose." The word by itself does not settle the question. However, the broader context favors reading it as "goal." Paul has already said that faith establishes the law (3:31), that the law witnesses to faith-righteousness (3:21), and that the Torah itself teaches faith-righteousness (10:6-8, quoting Deuteronomy 30). If Christ terminated the law, it would be strange for Paul to say faith establishes it, or for the Torah to be actively teaching about faith.

Christ is the goal toward which the law always pointed -- the one in whom its righteous requirement finds fulfillment.

What the Bible Does NOT Say¶

Honesty requires acknowledging what the text of Romans does not explicitly state:

Romans never directly says "the moral law is abolished." No verse in the book makes that statement.
Romans never says "not under the law" means "free from all moral obligation." Paul explicitly denies this reading.
Romans never says the law itself is dead. Paul says believers are "dead to the law," but in the same chapter he calls the law holy, just, good, and spiritual.
Romans never states with certainty whether telos in 10:4 means "termination" or "goal." The word has a range of meaning, though the surrounding evidence in Romans favors "goal."
Romans never says Paul treats all law as a single undifferentiated unit. In fact, when Paul quotes specific law-content, it is always the Ten Commandments, and his vocabulary elsewhere distinguishes between different types of legal material.
Romans never says the Spirit replaces the law with something new. Romans 8:4 says the Spirit fulfills the law's own righteous requirement -- the same law, now lived out by the Spirit's power.
Romans never says the moral law can justify anyone. Paul is clear that no one is declared righteous by keeping the law.

Conclusion¶

Paul's teaching on the law in Romans is both nuanced and consistent. The law cannot justify -- that was never its purpose. But the law remains holy, just, good, and spiritual. Faith does not abolish it; faith establishes it. The phrases "not under the law," "dead to the law," and "delivered from the law" describe the believer's freedom from the law's condemning power, not from its moral authority -- as Paul's own immediate context makes clear when he denies that these phrases permit sin and when he praises the law in the strongest terms in the very same passages.

The purpose of God sending His Son was that the law's righteous requirement would be fulfilled in believers who walk by the Spirit. Love is the fulfilling of the law, not its replacement -- and the law love fulfills is the Ten Commandments, which Paul quotes by name. Christ is the goal toward which the law always pointed, and the Spirit is the power by which the law is finally lived out in human hearts.

Based on the full technical study completed 2026-02-25

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