📜WEB · Romans 10:5
What does Romans 10:5 mean?
"For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”"
— Romans 10:5 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
But 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);
or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)”
But 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:
Explanation
Romans 10:5 finds Paul in the middle of explaining the difference between two paths to righteousness: one based on human effort in keeping the law, and one based on faith in Christ. In plain language, Paul is quoting Moses to make a simple but weighty point: if you want to be made right with God through the law, the law itself requires perfect, sustained obedience. The one who does what the law commands will live by it—meaning the law offers life only to those who actually fulfill its demands completely, not partially or occasionally.
The quotation comes from Leviticus 18:5, where Moses instructed Israel that keeping God's statutes and ordinances would bring life within the covenant relationship. Paul, writing to the church in Rome around the mid-first century, draws on this Old Testament text to address a real tension in his audience—a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile believers wrestling with how the Mosaic law relates to salvation through Christ. Throughout Romans 9–11, Paul is grappling with why many of his fellow Jews, who pursued righteousness through the law, missed the righteousness that comes by faith, while Gentiles who had no such law were receiving it freely.
Theologically, this verse functions as part of Paul's larger argument that the law was never a truly viable path to righteousness for sinful human beings, because it demands flawless performance. Paul isn't criticizing the law itself—he calls it holy and good elsewhere (Romans 7:12)—but he's exposing its impossible standard for fallen people. No one, in practice, "does" the law per
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.