The Claim
Most churches teach that the apostles said in plain words that the Law is gone. Abolished, done away, end, changed, blotted out. How many ways does Scripture have to say it?
The list is strong in English. The question is what the words say in the language the apostles wrote.
The Short Version
- Five Greek words carry nearly the whole abolition case: katargeo, telos, pleroo, metathesis, and exaleipho.
- Each one is used elsewhere in Scripture, in places no one disputes. Those uses show what the word means.
- Not one of the five means repealed.
Katargeo: Rendered Idle
Katargeo (G2673) is built from kata and argos, idle or not working. It means to make inoperative, to strip of power. Where no one is arguing about the law, it is used like this:
- “Who hath abolished death” (2 Timothy 1:10). Believers still die. Death was stripped of its power over them.
- “That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). The devil still walks about (1 Peter 5:8). His hold was broken, not his existence.
And Paul uses the same word in the series’ anchor verse: “Do we then make void the law through faith?” Make void is katargeo, and his answer is “God forbid.”
Where it appears in the debate: Ephesians 2:15 and 2 Corinthians 3.
Telos: The Goal
Telos (G5056) can mean a stopping point. It also means a goal, the place something is headed.
- “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart” (1 Timothy 1:5). The end of the commandment is its goal, not its termination.
- Melchizedek is described as “having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3). Here telos plainly means termination: the end of a life.
Honesty requires stating it plainly: the word can mean either one, and context decides. What it proves is that “end” in English does not settle the question by itself.
Where it appears in the debate: Romans 10:4.
Pleroo: Filled Full
Pleroo (G4137) means to fill, to bring to full measure. The modern teaching reads fulfil as finish, like a contract that is fulfilled and closed. Scripture uses it otherwise:
- “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Yahushua fulfilled all righteousness at His immersion. No one believes righteousness was cancelled that day.
- “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers” (Matthew 23:32). Filling did not end it. It brought it to full measure.
Where it appears in the debate: Matthew 5:17, Romans 13:8–10, and Galatians 5:14.
Metathesis: Transferred
Metathesis (G3331) means a transfer, a moving from one place to another. The same writer who uses it in Hebrews 7:12 uses it for Enoch: “before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased Yahuah” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch was not abolished. He was moved. The word can also describe a removal (Hebrews 12:27), so context decides here too.
Where it appears in the debate: Hebrews 7:12, alongside F-06.
Exaleipho: Wiped Clean
Exaleipho (G1813) means to wipe out or blot out. Everywhere else it appears, look at what is wiped:
- “That your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). Sins.
- “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:5). A name in a written record.
- “And Yahuah shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). Tears.
It wipes records of guilt, names, and tears. It is never used elsewhere for wiping out a commandment.
Where it appears in the debate: Colossians 2:14.
The One Word That Does Mean Set Aside
A careful reader will point to Hebrews 7:18, where the word is athetesis (G115). It does mean annulment, and this foundation does not pretend otherwise. Hebrews names what it annuls, and that object is answered in its own testimony alongside F-06.
The Verdict
In English, the abolition vocabulary sounds overwhelming. In Greek, the same words mean rendered powerless, goal, filled full, transferred, and wiped clean. Each is used elsewhere in Scripture in ways no one disputes, and none of those uses means repealed. Every passage that rests here is answered in its own testimony, where the context shows how each word is working.
The strongest evidence is the anchor verse itself, where Paul uses the word translated abolished and answers with an oath:
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
— Romans 3:31
The apostle who wrote the abolition vocabulary used it to say the law was not abolished.