Misinterpretations often treat this verse as promoting salvation by works, claiming one can earn righteousness and eternal life through personal effort in keeping the law, overlooking Paul's point that such perfect obedience is impossible and the law only reveals sin. Another error is legalism, applying Mosaic commandments rigidly to Christians today as the means of justification, ignoring the passage's contrast with faith-based righteousness that does not depend on human doing but on Christ's finished work.
Romans 10:5
King James Version (1769)
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
Paul quotes Moses from Leviticus 18:5 to describe the righteousness that comes from the law, emphasizing that it requires perfect obedience to all its commands for a person to live by them and attain life. This highlights the demanding nature of legalistic righteousness, which no human can fully achieve, serving as a contrast in Romans 10 to the simpler path of righteousness by faith in Christ, who fulfills the law on our behalf.