CHRIST:  A CURSE FOR US

GALATIANS 3:10-14

MAY 31, 1998

 

Many of our hymns in the church refer to Jesus Christ as "the Redeemer" and to believers as "the redeemed."  Redemption by the Redeemer is not an unfamiliar thought among Christians.  The only problem is that too often we sing the hymns without considering the theological implications they present.  Why did Jesus have to become our Redeemer?

 

The idea of redemption brings to light an insurmountable need on the part of those being redeemed.  There is a reason for redemption.  Paul couches the need for redemption in the language of a "curse."  We live under a curse of infinite proportions which we are helpless to remove by our own efforts.  Only by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, can sinners be delivered from the curse.

 

"Redeemer" is a choice name for our Lord.  For in this term we find capsuled the very idea of all that Jesus Christ came to do on our behalf.  B. B. Warfield, the great Princeton theologian at the turn of the century, wrote concerning Christ as our Redeemer:

It gives expression not merely to our sense that we have received salvation from Him, but also to our appreciation of what it cost Him to procure this salvation for us.  It is the name specifically of the Christ of the cross.  Whenever we pronounce it, the cross is placarded before our eyes and our hearts are filled with loving remembrance not only that Christ has given us salvation, but that He paid a mighty price for it [The Person and Work of Christ, 325].

When this redemption is realized by faith, we find ourselves singing with the hymn writer:  "Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!  Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  Redeemed through His infinite mercy; His child and forever I am!"  Does this little chorus express the passion of your heart?  Do you know that you have been redeemed from the curse?

 

I.  Problem of the curse

 

We are confronted with the concept of a "curse" in these verses.  Perhaps the term conjures in our minds a mysterious figure, uttering plagues upon us.  But that fails to comprehend the term "curse."  Paul is dealing with the Galatian heresy espoused by Judaizers who tried to lure them into embracing Judaism as supreme over the sufficiency of faith in Christ.  They sought to bring the Galatians into a bondage of dependence upon the works of the Law as the means of justification.  To this, Paul plants his feet firmly and resists any effort to slip into such damnable legalism.  "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."

 

It was as if Paul was saying, 'Okay, you want to embrace the Law as your means of justification.  Just go right ahead, but while you are at it, you best make sure that you obey every detail of the Law.  If you leave out the least observance then you are cursed'.

 

The biblical picture harkens back to the instructions for renewal of the covenant of the Law just prior to Moses' death (Deuteronomy 27-28).  Once they crossed the Jordan, the twelve tribes of Israel were divided in half.  Six tribes stood upon Mount Gerizim to ratify the blessings of the covenant of Law by a hearty "Amen!"  While six tribes joined them antiphonally standing upon Mount Ebal, ratifying the curses they would face upon any breach of the covenant of Law.  The Levites would read the blessings and  curses, while the nation would antiphonally resound the "Amen!" upon each.  The warning given by Moses was clear:  "But it shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you....So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you" (Deuteronomy 28:15, 45).  If you read the ominous warnings in these chapters of the Law, you understand that God was serious about obedience to His Law.  He did not intend for the people to pick and choose their obedience.  They were to obey everything!

 

1.  Nature of the curse

 

But, you point out, how can anyone obey everything which the Law prescribes?  That is precisely what the Apostle is getting across.  If you are going to utilize the Law for your means to achieve righteousness with God, then you must obey all of the Law all of the time for all of life.  Otherwise, you are under a curse. Such perfect obedience is impossible for Adam's sons!  "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them."  The nature of the curse is that violators fall under the wrath of God.  Luther calls this curse "the wrath of God upon the whole world" [Commentary on Galatians, 169]. He also described it "as it were a flood, swallowing up whatsoever is...without faith" [143]. The curse is not empty words uttered by a sympathetic deity, but a declaration of condemnation upon the sons of Adam.  It is the curse of death, eternal death and separation from God (Romans 5:12ff.).

 

When Paul spoke of "the wrath of God...revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," he used a word that pictures the righteous anger of God being held back out of mercy for a time (Romans 1:18).  It is like a mighty river rushing forward with all of its power, but held back for a time by a dam.  Then, with one burst, it is released so that nothing can stop its force nor hide from its power.

 

When I was a teenager, I would often visit the Wilson Dam that crosses the Tennessee River at Florence, Alabama.  My friends and I would walk to the side of the dam and peer to the bottom.  I would look at the enormity of this structure and wonder how, even with its size, it could hold back the mighty force of the river.  If it ever broke, then all in its path would be doomed.

 

It is only the cross of Christ that averts the wrath of God from flowing over us in all its dooming power.  Only those who rest by faith in Jesus Christ can avoid the "flood" of God's wrath--the curse facing sinners.

 

2.  Breadth of the curse

 

How far does this curse extend?  Some say that this is only for the Jews.  But here Paul is dealing with a group of Gentiles.  He was showing them that the curse of God's wrath was not only upon unbelieving Jews but also upon unbelieving Gentiles.  Specifically, he explains that all those who view the law as their means of approaching God, yet break even the least commandment, are under the curse of God--Jew or Gentile.  Paul calls them those who "are of the works of the Law."  Leon Morris points out that this "is not simply that they see the law as important; they see it as all-important.  Their whole position depends on the keeping of the law" [Galatians: Paul's Charter of Christian Freedom, 103].  This crowd was thinking that the Law carried more weight than the cross.  So they were hanging on to their own ability to keep the Law as the way to God rather than faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

 

But they would run into a major obstacle at this point.  All of us are law-breakers.  As James Montgomery Boice shows, "The law is not a collection of stray and miscellaneous parts, some of which may conveniently be disregarded.  It is a whole, and must be kept in all its parts if it is to be considered kept at all" [quoted by Morris, 102-103].

 

This crowd is still with us today in even larger numbers.  I am amazed that with all of the gospel preaching that exists in our country, most people still think that their eternal destiny boils down to how good a job they do keeping the Law or some derivatives of the Law.  Yet Paul showed the folly of such a claim by stating, "Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

 

Would you be honest with yourself at this point?  Are you clinging to your own adherence to the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule or some other standard of morality as your means of being justified before God?  The whole intent of this epistle is to explain to you that God will not accept your attempt at obeying the law for righteousness.  As much as you try, as much effort as you give, you can never meet up to God's standard; which is perfection (Matthew 5:48).  You never find a place where God excused sin or told the Jews to obey most of what He commanded them.  Instead, He commanded total obedience, period.  To disobey was to fall under the curse.

 

3.  The curse and the Law

 

We must see that this was no mix-up with God.  He knew from the beginning the fault line that runs through humanity.  For Adam's nature has swallowed up all of us.  The bent of our nature is toward sin and rebellion, not righteousness and obedience.  Check it out in any culture under any circumstance.  Human beings are rebels against God.  We are naturally at enmity with Him.  So how can we even begin to think that somehow we can change our nature to conform to the divine standards?

 

Paul states his argument from the prophet Habakkuk:  "The righteous man shall live by faith."  Or as John Brown amplifies it, "The man who is the object of God's favorable regard in consequence of his faith, that man shall live, or be happy" [quoted by Timothy George, NAC--Galatians, 234].  Righteous is used in its forensic sense, that is, declared legally righteous before God the Judge; or justified.  Faith is not a combination of 'law and faith', so that a person tries diligently to adhere to the Law while combining this with believing, thinking that both his faith and his obedience justifies him.  Paul says 'no', "However, the Law is not of faith."  The adherence to the Law as a means of justification is totally different from trusting in the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone.  So Paul adds, quoting from Leviticus 18:5, "On the contrary, 'HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."  That is, if you are going to be "of the works of the Law" (v. 10), then you must live by the Law in every detail.  But there is a big distinction between Law and faith:

The law is concerned with doing things; it prescribes conduct.  But faith is not concerned with doing things; it means trusting someone.  And because Scripture speaks of faith as the way to God, salvation cannot be by works.  Faith and works may well exist together in one life; indeed, they should exist together. But faith and works cannot both be the way to salvation.  Doing something to merit salvation is one thing; trusting God to do what is needed is quite another [Morris, 105].

The Law can never accomplish what Christ has done for us to be appropriated by faith.  The Law is valuable indeed, as we will see in further studies, but not for justification.  If you remain dependent upon your adherence to the Law for justification, then the warning is clear:  you are under the curse of the Law as a lawbreaker.  What will follow you is not blessing but the curse of divine wrath.

 

II.  Redeemed from the curse

 

The answer to this dilemma is not found in trying harder.  It is found in the Redeemer, Jesus Christ the Lord.  Keep in mind the Apostle's argument.  He is proving both by experience (3:1-5) and through the Scripture (3:6ff) that we are justified by faith in Christ alone without any merit gained by our own works (2:16).  He is proving that Christ alone has set us free from living under the curse of divine wrath toward sinners.  "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, 'CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE."  Here we have re-introduced for us the essential doctrine of Jesus Christ as our Substitute, His death being vicarious (2:20).  And here we have the truth of Christ redeeming us from the curse stated with clarity.  This is another one of those passages that actually contains the gospel in miniature (e.g., 1:3-4; 3:1).

 

Substitution and redemption were not new ideas in this era.  The Jews had long seen the foreshadowing of Christ as our substitute through the lambs slain to propitiate because of their sins.  The concept of redemption was woven throughout their heritage from the redemption of the firstborn that belonged to God, to the kinsman redeemer buying the estate of someone in desperate straits, to God's deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt.  Now all of the practice in the Old Testament has its fulfillment in Jesus Christ!

 

1.  Act of redemption

 

To be redeemed implies that you are in a situation which you cannot change yourself.  It is something beyond your capacity.  The picture given to us in this word is that of a common scene in the first century, particularly in Rome.  Every day at the market place, slaves would be placed upon the block to be purchased by someone else.  The slave had no control over his own life.  He would typically go from one slave owner to another, facing the same bondage all over again.  For him to be free, someone had to redeem him or 'buy him out of the marketplace', which is the literal meaning of this particular Greek term (exagorazo).  What is needed for redemption to take place?

 

First, Someone must perform the act of redemption.  It did not happen automatically, nor because the slave happened to reach a certain level of moral behavior.  He had to have a redeemer, that is, someone who would come to his rescue and deliver him from his bondage.  Someone outside of himself had to take action to effect the slave's redemption.

 

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law," the Apostle wrote.  The act of redemption was undertaken by God the Son as He left heaven to be born of a virgin, becoming a man; to live a sinless life, obeying all of the Law; and finally, to lay down His life for those enslaved to sin.  We, the sons of Adam, living under the curse of the Law, were rescued because God Himself took the initiative to redeem us.  Leon Morris quotes another scholar who captures this so magnificently.

Like a black thundercloud the Law hung over men's heads, and they looked up to it in fear that at any minute the lightning of the divine judgment might flame out from its heart.  What could be done?  God took the initiative.  Christ came and on the Cross bore for us the doom which sin involved...Christ bore the penalty which in strict justice we ought to have borne...Death was the curse of the Law, and that curse Christ took upon Himself [The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 56-57].

Is your faith in Jesus Christ alone, who came to earth to redeem sinners?  If your trust is in your own righteousness or your own goodness or your own ability, then you are still "of the works of the Law," and consequently, you are still abiding under the curse of divine wrath.

 

2.  Price of redemption

 

Redemption was never free.  A slave was not released from the market place at a whim.  A price must be paid for his redemption.  "Christ redeemed us from the curse of THE Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, 'CURSED BE EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE'."  Notice the emphasis of this verse:  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.  Can we even begin to imagine the horrible weight of our sin before God?  Can we even start to fathom the severity of God's wrath which we deserve as sinners?  Can we even begin to understand the absolute holiness of God which stands in eternal contrast to our sinfulness?  And can we even begin to consider the wondrous bounty of grace which God has shown to us in Jesus Christ?

 

We look to the Cross of Christ to understand these wonders.  Timothy George expresses this puzzling mystery poignantly:  "it is only in the light of Calvary that we grasp fully, insofar as God grants to us mortals the ability to understand such mysteries, the holiness of God, the horror of sin, and the depth of divine grace that caused all three to meet in a man on a tree" [NAC, 231].  At the cross we find the convergence of man's sinfulness, God's justice, and Christ as our substitute.  There our redemption took place, so that only through faith in Jesus Christ paying the divine penalty for us, can we be justified.

 

The price for our redemption from sin and all of its enslavement, was the blood of the Lamb of God.  On the cross Jesus Christ became a curse for us.  He was not beforehand a curse, for He is the eternal Son of God, perfect in every way, altogether righteous.  He became a man, so that at a point in time, as our Substitute, He became a curse for us, so that the divine wrath which constitutes the curse fell upon Him.  The collective measure of divine wrath that rightly should be applied to us was applied to our Redeemer.  Think of the redeemed of all the ages.  Centuries and centuries of believers, all redeemed by the same price:  the blood of the Son of God.  It is beyond our imagination, but if somehow we could fathom the collective measure of the infinite wrath of God upon the redeemed of the ages, then we would begin to understand the infinitely wondrous price Jesus Christ paid for our redemption.

 

"Jesus paid it all," is the Apostle's theme.  How can we even think of trying to add to His sufficiency?  How can we even imagine that we, as unworthy sinners, can produce enough righteousness to be accepted by God, when the price God required was His own Son becoming a curse for our redemption?  Does your faith rest in Jesus Christ alone and Him as your Substitute before God at the cross?  "There was a cross in the heart of God from all eternity, for Jesus was "the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world"" [T. George, 239].

 

III. Redemption gifts

 

Our text is going somewhere with its firm foundation of Jesus Christ redeeming us from the curse of the Law and faith in Him alone being the way to justification.  There are gifts provided through the redemptive work of Christ.  Gifts, not payments, are ours through the abundant measure of the grace shown to us in Christ.

 

1.  Sphere of the gifts

 

Paul spoke of Jesus Christ as our Substitute, redeeming us by becoming a curse for us, "in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."  We must never skip over the little prepositions in Scripture!  Some of the weightiest matters rest in them.  Here we are told that only "in Christ Jesus" can we receive the gifts effected by the redemptive work of Christ and received by faith.  The sphere of gifts is "in Christ Jesus," that is, in relationship to Him by faith.

 

Again, we are reminded that it is not our works of righteousness that places us into the sphere of relationship to Christ.  It is only "through faith" that we are united to our Redeemer and all of His redemptive work He accomplished at the cross applied to our lives.  As the 19th century preacher expressed it, "Nowhere are we taught how man can be just with God, save at the cross" [Gardiner Spring, Attraction of the Cross, 26].

 

When we proclaim the gospel and call people to Christ, we are not calling them to a religious concept or a moral system or a mere ideology.  We are calling mortal men into an eternal relationship with God through Christ.  We are declaring that such a relationship transforms a sinner into one of the redeemed.  It changes his whole standing with God so that now he is accounted as righteous as the Lord Jesus in God's judicial sight.  The whole circumference of his life is re-directed to Jesus Christ as His Head.  Whereas he worshiped the things of the world before, now his entire life is bent on worshiping and pleasing his Redeemer.  Up to the point of faith in Christ, he has belonged to the world, followed the pleasures of the flesh, and yielded to the devil.  But now, he is in Christ, seated with Him in the heavenly places, following after Christ as a disciple, and delivered from the devil's kingdom of darkness.  Are you in Christ Jesus by faith?

 

2.  Blessing of Abraham

 

We've come across this term, "the blessing of Abraham," in our last study of this text.  We saw that Paul was not referring to the material benefits that Abraham accrued by God's gracious hand, but the justification that was his by faith:  "Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to Him as righteousness....So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer" (3:6, 9).  The whole context of this passage refers to the surety of justification by faith.  Here Paul shows that it was by faith that Abraham was justified and it is by faith that we become sons of Abraham, receiving this same right standing with God.

 

So, in Paul's interpretation of God's promises to Abraham, "the blessing of Abraham [that] might come to the Gentiles" is the blessing of knowing that though you are a sinner, you have been declared righteous before God through the righteousness that is in Jesus Christ.  This blessing is yours by faith.  Do you know that you have been declared righteous before God through the merits of Jesus Christ?

 

3.  Promise of the Spirit

 

Paul does not separate the blessing of justification and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.  For him, those who are justified have the Spirit and those who have the Spirit have been justified.  So he could write that Jesus Christ redeemed us by becoming a curse for us "so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."  We who are mere vessels of clay are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Here again we find the Apostle showing that all who are justified will show forth the evidence of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  What is this promise of the Spirit?

Have you received the promise of the Spirit?

 

Conclusion

 

It is only through faith in Jesus Christ alone that we receive the gracious offer of justification, forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the indwelling Spirit.  We, who are sinners, who are incapable of saving ourselves, are invited, yea, demanded by God, to repent of our sins and cast ourselves in trust upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Does your faith rest in Christ alone, who became a curse for us, so that we might be redeemed in Him?

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