Galatians 3:13-14 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Here is the heart of what is called the substitutionary view of the atonement: Christ became a curse for us so that we might be saved. The law is central in this approach to what Jesus’ death has done for us. The first phrase Christ redeemed us reveals the heart of the gospel. “Redeem” means to liberate or deliver. It can be used in a commercial context for buying something back. Before we are saved, we are trapped under the control of sin. Sin is the dominant power in our lives that influences the choices we make. Many times, those choices are destructive to us or to others. This sin power is seen most often through pride, selfishness, covetousness, idolatry, and giving in to the pull of a deceived flesh. There is no way on our own power that we can find freedom from slavery to sin because it is so innate to who we are as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. The only answer for this problem is Jesus.
The curse of the law is death. As Paul demonstrates in Romans 1-3, the law is cursed because everyone is a lawbreaker and no one can do or be righteous. All have sinned and all are guilty before God. The curse is most evident in that all people will face physical death. Death is the reminder of the deeper issue of spiritual death. Jesus became a curse for us by taking upon himself the penalty of death we deserve. A key prepositional phrase is “in our behalf,” or “for us.” He took our place as the substitute and assumed the curse of death upon himself. Without his resurrection, we would all still be bound to the curse of death. But his resurrection overcame our last enemy of death, which holds the power of sin.
Paul draws upon the Old Testament passage of Deuteronomy 21:23 as proof that Jesus was cursed for being hung on a tree. The word for “tree” can also be translated as a wood pole. This was the method the Romans used to crucify people. Paul sees this text as a prophecy for how Jesus died and why he died. Jesus was cursed because he died on a Roman cross. But this curse was intentional because by doing this, Jesus took upon himself our curse.
Verse 14 is a purpose clause that incorporates the blessing of Abraham and the world-wide mission to the nations. This blessing of Abraham was given in vv. 8-9 as the ability of everyone, including the Gentiles, to be made righteous because of faith. Righteousness is the key to eternal life and being found worthy to be in God’s presence. It is directly related to holiness. It could be said that righteousness is holiness as it relates to the law. This promise is available now to all people because of what Jesus did on the cross.
A secondary purpose clause in the last part of v. 14 could also be taken as a result clause. Paul returns to the theme with which he started this chapter of receiving the Holy Spirit. He shows that the way to receive the Spirit is through faith, and this is made possible only because of what Jesus has done on the cross. This is an important theological connection. In broad terms, it could be interpreted that Pentecost (baptism of the Holy Spirit) is dependent upon and points to Calvary. The gift of the Holy Spirit brings all the freedom for which people long and desire. All of this is only experienced through faith.
For older posts, click here.