B. W. wrote:Jac - how would explain the Greek word order of Romans 10:4 - notice for 'eis' I placed the word 'Toward' for clarity - How would you read it in Greek?
Pretty much as you did. Here's the verse in question, first in Greek script, then in transliteration, then a word for word translation, followed by a translation as you might see in any English NT (all translations mine):
- τέλος γὰρ νόμου Χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι
telos gar nomou Christos eis dikaiosunen panti to pisteuonti
[The] end for (the) law Christ [is] unto righteousness [to] all -- who believe
For the end of the Law is Christ, and that unto righteousness to all who believe
As you point out, the word order here is important. In Greek, important words usually go earlier in the sentence. The most emphastic word here is
telos, which means whatever Paul is saying, that's what he's emphasizing. That's what I tried to bring out in my own translation (the last line). The second word (gar = "for") is a postpositive and always occurs two or three words into the sentence. The third word is only third, then, by interruption of
gar, so Vincent is right to consider
telos nomou a phrase, and it is this phrase that is so emphatic -- "the end of the Law."
Given all this, I think most translations miss the force of the verse because they spend all their time debating the meaning of
telos. Look at the following translations to see what I mean:
- For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (ESV)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (HCSB)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (KJV)
For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes. (NET)
Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (NIV)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (NKJV)
For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified. (RSV)
Notice something all of them have in common. They put "Christ" first -- that's "good English," but it inclines us to read it out loud like this, "For CHRIST is the end of the law . . ."
But that's not Paul's emphasis at all. So why is Paul emphasizing the
telos of the Law? The word
gar gives a clue. That is an explanatory word. It links us to a previous thought--usually the immediately preceding--as if to say, "what I just said is true because . . ." So look at 10:1-3.
- Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
So Paul says here that he desires and prays that Israel might be saved, and then he states a truth. They (Israel) have a zeal for God,
but it is an ignorant zeal. So that's the key idea of this entire passage--the ignorance of the zeal. Notice the word "for" after that -- the zeal is not enlightened BECAUSE the Jews were ignorant of the righteousness that came from God. What righteousness is that? That which comes by faith in Christ, of course (see Rom 1:16-17). Paul continues -- being ignorant of God's righteousness, they
sought to establish their own. That's hugely important. How did they seek to establish their own righteousness? By Law keeping. Paul restates for emphasis--that righteousness i]is not from God, but it came from Israel[/i].
So to recap before we look at the
gar in verse four: The Jews had an unenlightened zeal BECAUSE they sought to establish their own righteousness by keeping the Law rather than submitting to God's by trusting Christ.
We then come to our verse. WHY did they not submit to God's righteousness? BECAUSE (
gar) the END of the Law is Christ! The whole point of this passage here is that the Jews were trying to establish righteousness through the Law rather than through the Law's END, which is Christ. But how does one access that END (Christ)? Now we come to your
eis. You translated it "toward," which is fair, but it has a wide range of meanings. Notice I translated it "[and that] unto," which echos the NET and RSV. The END of the Law (which is Christ)
is for righteousness (note the contrast of the passage; righteousness comes by the end of the Law, not by the Law itself); and that is obtained
by faith.
In sum, the Jews missed out because they tried to be righteous through Law keeping, but Paul says true righteousness comes by trusting in the END of the Law, which is Christ.
So then, we close with a quick look at "end" (
telos). G wants to translate it as "aim," but doing so is wrong and obscures the meaning of the whole verse. Paul is NOT saying that righteousness comes by keeping the Law with an eye toward Christ, by "aiming at" Christ in keeping the Law. His whole point is that it is not the law, but faith, that is the means to true righteousness. The reason Christ can do that is because of what He is: the culmination (as the NIV puts it) of the Law. He is its completion. It is the part; He is the whole. The Law was "toward" Christ, but only in the sense of being a sign. The reality is here, so the sign is unnecessary. At one time, keeping the Law was an act of faith. Now it is an act of faithlessness. It is like the Passover. It pointed forward to Christ, but for us to celebrate it today as pointing to the future coming of the Messiah would be to deny that the Messiah has already come. That is why, as Christians, we have the Lord's Supper (not Passover) -- we look BACK to when Christ came. To keep the Passover in the OT sense is to deny that Christ has come. And just so with Law keeping. That's what Paul is saying in this passage with this word
telos.
All of this is confirmed in the verses that follow.
- Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by it. But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not 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). 8 But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, “every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That's the RSV -- I would note that verse five should start with the word "For" as well. Paul is arguing why righteousness comes through faith in the end of the law, which is Christ. The reason, he says, is that Moses says that those who practice righteousness by the law will live in IT (that is, the law -- so the righteousness of the law comes from keeping the law); but the righteousness of faith does not come from keeping the law, but from "the word [that] is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach." And how is that word of faith accessed, by confession and belief--not by keeping the Law. And so Paul concludes that there is NO distinction between the Jew (who kept the Law) and the Greek (who did not); all are saved the same way, by faith in Christ.
To suggest, then, that
telos means "aim" in this verse and that Paul's point here or anywhere else is that we show our love for God and the reality of our faith by keeping the Law directly contradicts what this passage says. Or, put differently, this passage identifies that belief -- that Law keeping is in any sense related to our righteousness -- as contrary to the gospel itself, and says that belief is rooted in an
ignorant and unenlightened zeal. It is, Paul is saying, a fundamental denial of faith and a denial of the righteousness of God.
That's probably a lot more than you asked for, but I wanted to be thorough.
that you don't understand John 16:7
). Also, I feel I'm probably a bit out of my depth here in terms of being able to remember applicable parts of scripture, but... here's my two cents anyway.
in me... 
I do believe there were a few people that got it perhaps.. We shall see.. 
