"Works of the Law" and "Under the Law"

Is the Torah Legalistic?

The Greek phrases "erga nomou" and "upo nomon" were coined by Paul and used by him in three of his letters - Romans, Galatians, and 1 Corinthians; each appears ten times in the New Testament. They are usually translated "works of the law" and "under the law", respectively. This often causes the reader to infer that keeping the Torah is bad, and that being within the framework of Torah observance is bad. The CJB's B'rit Hadashah takes these phrases as referring not to the Torah itself but to mans legalistic perversion of it. Therefore "erga nomou" is rendered, "legalistic observance of Torah commands", and "upo nomon" is "in subjection to the system which results from perverting the Torah into legalism." The reader can then infer, correctly, that according to the New Testament teaching of Paul, legalism - whether Jewish, Christian or other -- is bad, but living according to G-ds Torah is good.

Romans 9 & 10

9Romans 10:4 - KJV

"For Christ is the end of law for righteousness to everyone that believes"

The greek word "telos" means "goal, purpose, consummation" not "termination".

The Messiah did not bring the Torah to an end. Rather, "the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts." (CJB's B'rit Hadashah)

This is the point that Paul is making in the entire passage, Romans 9:30-10:13. For this reason the Greek word "de" at the beginning of Romans 10:6 is rendered as a continuative, "moreover," rather than as an adjective , "but"; for the latter could imply that there are two paths to righteousness - through deeds (i.e. obeying the Torah apart from faith, verse 5) and through faith (verses 6-10). However, Pauls point throughout the passage, and indeed throughout Romans, is that for Jews and Gentiles alike there has never been more than one route to righteousness, namely, trusting G-d; so that the Torah is built on trusting G-d and from beginning to end has always required faith.