Romans 10:5 Meaning and Explanation
“For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Readers often wonder why Paul quotes the law so warmly while insisting that righteousness comes another way. Verse 5 answers by letting Moses speak for himself. Paul wants Israel's own Scripture to state the terms of the path he has been describing, so nobody can accuse him of inventing a caricature of what God actually said through the lawgiver.
Paul lets Moses state the terms of law-righteousness: the person who performs the commandments finds life in performing them. Doing stands at the center of that path.
The Context of Romans 10:5
Romans 9 through 11 forms one long section on Israel and God's faithfulness. Chapter 10 opens with Paul praying for his kinsmen, crediting them with real zeal for God while observing that their zeal lacks knowledge. Verses 3 and 4 describe people establishing a righteousness of their own and declare Christ the end of the law for righteousness to everyone believing. Verse 5 supplies the supporting quotation, drawn from Leviticus 18:5, where the Lord sets his statutes and judgments before Israel. Verses 6 through 8 answer with a second quotation, this time from Deuteronomy 30.
What Does Romans 10:5 Mean?
The verb 'describeth' presents Moses as an author still speaking in the present tense to Paul's readers. What Moses writes concerns 'the righteousness which is of the law,' a standing that arises from the law itself rather than from some other source. The quoted line, 'That the man which doeth those things shall live by them,' comes from Leviticus 18:5, where 'those things' are the statutes and judgments the Lord had just laid out. The promise attached to them is life in the land under covenant. Everything in the sentence turns on the verb 'doeth,' since the path described here runs through actual performance of what has been commanded.
Placing this quotation right after verse 4 lets Moses testify inside Paul's argument. Leviticus 18:5 was a genuine word of God to a redeemed people, spoken after the exodus and framed as covenant life with him. Later prophets remembered the same sentence with sorrow, since Israel failed to walk in those statutes. Paul's concern in this chapter is a zeal running ahead of knowledge, and Moses himself shows what the arrangement asked of Israel. The very next verses will bring a second word from the same lawgiver, so Moses ends up voicing both halves of the case Paul is building.
Galatians 3:12 quotes this line from Leviticus in a closely related argument, which suggests Paul reached for the text often when explaining how the law functions. The One who fulfilled it appears one verse earlier: Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He lived among Israel keeping the statutes and judgments Moses recorded, and his obedience carries a life he shares with those who come to him. Reading verse 5 alongside verse 4 keeps the law honored as God's own speech while pointing to the person in whom its promise of life finally arrives.
Romans 10:5 in the Original Language
poiesas (ποιήσας), 'doeth' -- an aorist participle of poieo, naming the person who has actually carried out the required actions, which puts the weight of the sentence on completed performance rather than on intention.
Bible Verses Related to Romans 10:5
“Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.”
- Leviticus 18:5
“And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.”
- Galatians 3:12
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
- Romans 10:4
“And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.”
- Ezekiel 20:11
Where Romans 10:5 Echoes in Scripture
Galatians 3:12 carries the same sentence from Leviticus 18:5 into a different letter and a different controversy, where Paul sets it beside Habakkuk's word that the just shall live by faith. Seeing one Old Testament line handled twice by the same apostle helps us read Romans 10:5 as a considered summary rather than a passing remark. Moses had described a real path with a real promise, and Paul treats that description as authoritative in both places.
How to Apply Romans 10:5 Today
Most of us know the quiet arithmetic of trying to earn approval by keeping a list well enough. Verse 5 lets us look at that arithmetic honestly, since it names what such a path actually requires: doing the things, all of them, as the way of life. When we notice that instinct rising in prayer or in our estimate of a hard week, we can name it plainly and turn toward the God who gives righteousness. Obedience keeps its honored place as a glad response to grace already received rather than a wage we are negotiating.
Reflection & Prayer
Where have we recently measured our standing with God by our performance last week? Consider praying: Lord, you gave the law and you gave the promise; teach us to receive righteousness from your hand and to obey out of gladness rather than fear. Show us where our zeal has outrun our knowledge of you, and keep us learning from the Scripture you gave.