Romans 10:5 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law - The place to which the apostle refers, seems to be Leviticus 18:5 : Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them. These words seem to be spoken in answer to an objection which might be made by a Jew: "Did not Moses give us a law, the observance of which should secure our salvation?" Such a law Moses undoubtedly gave, and that law promises life to those who perform its precepts: but who can plead for life on this ground, who rejects that Christ who is the end of the law? No man ever did, nor ever can, fulfill that law, so as to merit salvation by the performance of it: for, as all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, they are all under the curse of the law, which says: Cursed is every one who continueth not in all the things that are written in the book of the law to do them, Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10; therefore by the deeds of this law none can be justified, because all are in a state of condemnation for transgressions already committed against it. If, therefore, there were not such a provision as is made by the death of Christ, no soul could be saved.