Corpus-Paul

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>
> Tony Costa responded:
>
> I think the answer lies in the meaning of TELOS ("end")
> that is used in Rom.10:4. It certainly carries the
> meaning of reaching the goal. I think Paul is arguing
> that the law reached its goal in Christ, but in
> reaching its goal it has also fulfilled its service and
> has thus ended. The "law" here again I believe is
> reference to the Mosaic law. In the Greek text this
> word, TELOS appears first, and is thus used to imply
> emphasis. Thayer states that telos means “…end, ie. a.
> termination, the limit at which a thing ceases to
> be,…in the Scriptures also of a temporal end; Christ
> has brought the law to an end.” [Joseph Henry Thayer.
> The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New
> Testament. (Peabody, MA : Hendrickson Publishers,
> 1981), 619-620.]
> Thayer then alludes to Rom.10:4. Arndt and Gingrich
> point out that the verbal form of TELOS means “bring to
> an end, finish, complete.” [William F. Arndt and F.
> Wilbur Gingrich, 'A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
> Testament and Other Early Christian Literature', 2nd
> ed. rev. and ed. by William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur
> Gingrich and Frederick W.Danker from Walter Bauer’s 5th
> ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979), 810.]
> As to its nominal form, Arndt and Gingrich agree with
> Thayer that it denotes “end…in the sense of
> termination, cessation.” Thus, I think Paul's point is
> that Christ is the termination of the law. I think
> Paul's argument in Gal.3:15-25 is the same, the law was
> a tutor to lead one to Christ, now that Christ has
> come, the tutor (law) is no longer necessary or in
> force.
>
> Tony Costa, ThD (cand)

Hi Tony,

By my count there are 13 places that Paul uses TELOS in his writings.  It is true that Thayer uses the term end.  But 1d) of his definitions is "the end to which all things relate, the aim, purpose.  This IMO is the END that Paul is using.  1 Tim 1:5 uses that same verbage, but most translations put Goal.  So 10:4 could just as easily read Christ is the Goal of the Law unto Righteousness....  Paul is talking about righteousness.  Whether he is saying that walking in Christ is the equal of a righteous use of the Torah or Christ is an example of what the Righteousness of the Torah would look like is not the point I am trying to argue here.  It is just that using the best parallel examples of Telos that Paul uses, IMO makes 10:4 more an argument for the Law than against the Law. 

Jeff