Let the reader pay particular attention to the fact that there is in this epistle no controversy over the law, as to whether or not it should be obeyed. No one had claimed that the law was abolished, or changed, or had lost its force. The epistle contains no hint of any such thing. The question was not if the law should be kept, but how it was to be kept. Justification—being made righteous—was admitted to be a necessity; the question was, Is it by faith, or by works? The false brethren were persuading the Galatians that they must be made righteous by their own efforts; Paul was by the Spirit showing that all such attempts were useless, and could result only in fastening more firmly the curse upon the sinner. Righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ is set forth to all men in all time as the only real righteousness. The false teachers made their boast in the law, but through breaking it caused the name of God to be blasphemed. Paul made his boast in Christ, and by the righteousness of the law, to which he thus submitted, caused the name of God to be glorified in him.
The Sting of Sin.
That death is the curse is evident from the last part of verse 13, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Christ was made a curse for us, in that He hung on a tree, that is, was crucified. But sin is the cause of death. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. “The sting of death is sin.” 1 Cor. 15:56. So we have the substance of verse 10 thus, that those who do not continue in the things written in the law are dead. That is, disobedience is death. And this is what the Scripture says: “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Sin contains death, and men out of Christ are “dead in trespasses and sins.” It matters not that they walk about seemingly full of life, the words of Christ are, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53. “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” 1 Tim. 5:6. It is a living death—a body of death—that is endured. Rom. 7:24. Sin is the transgression of the law; the wages of sin is death. The curse, therefore, is the death that is carried about concealed even in the most attractive sin. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
Redemption from the Curse.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.” Let us stop right here and contemplate this fact, leaving the way of redemption for later consideration. We need to consider the statement very carefully, for some who read it straightway rush off frantically exclaiming, “We don’t need to keep the law, because Christ has redeemed us from the curse of it,” as though the text said that Christ redeemed us from the curse of obedience. Such read the Scriptures to no profit. The curse, as we have seen, is disobedience. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Therefore, Christ has redeemed us from disobedience to the law. God sent forth His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Rom. 8:4.
Some one may lightly say, “Then we are all right; whatever we do is right so far as the law is concerned, since we are redeemed.” It is true that all are redeemed, but not all have accepted redemption. Many say of Christ, “We will not have this Man to reign over us,” and thrust the blessing of God from them. But redemption is for all; all have been purchased with the precious blood—the life—of Christ, and all may be, if they will, free from sin and death. By that blood we are redeemed from our “vain manner of life.” 1 Peter 1:18, R. V.
Stop and think what this means; let the full force of the announcement impress itself upon your consciousness. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,”—from not continuing in all its righteous requirements. We need not sin any more. He has snapped asunder the cords of sin that bound us, so that we have but to accept His salvation in order to be free from every besetting sin. It is not necessary for us any longer to spend our lives in earnest longings for a better life, and in vain regrets for desires unrealized. Christ raises no false hopes, but He comes to the captives of sin, and cries to them, “Liberty! Your prison doors are open. Go forth.” What more can be said? Christ has gained the complete victory over “this present evil world,” over “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” and our faith in Him makes His victory ours. We have but to accept it.
Christ Made a Curse for Us.
That “Christ died for the ungodly” is evident to all who read the Bible. He “was delivered for our offenses.” Rom. 4:25. The Innocent suffered for the guilty; the Just for the unjust. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:5, 6. But death came by sin. Death is the curse that has passed upon all men, simply because “all have sinned.” So, as Christ was “made a curse for us,” it follows that Christ was “made to be sin on our behalf.” 2 Cor. 5:21, R. V. He bore “our sins in His own body” up to the tree. 1 Peter 2:24, margin. Note that our sins were “in His body.” It was no superficial work that He undertook. The sins were not merely figuratively laid on Him, but they were actually in Him. He was made a curse for us, made to be sin for us, and consequently suffered death for us.
To some this truth seems repugnant; to the Greeks it is foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling-block, but “to us who are saved, it is the power of God.” For bear in mind that it was our sins that He bore in His own body—not His own sins. The same scripture that tells us that He was made to be sin for us, assures us that He “knew no sin.” The same text that tells us that He carried our sins “in His own body,” is careful to let us know that He “did no sin.” The fact that He could carry our sin about with Him, and in Him, being actually made to be sin for us, and yet not do any sin, is to His everlasting glory and our eternal salvation from sin. All the sins of all men were on Him, yet no person ever discovered the trace of sin upon Him. No sin was ever manifested in His life, although He took all sin upon Himself. He received it and swallowed it up by the power of the endless life in which He swallows up death. He can bear sin, and yet be untainted by it. It is by this marvelous life that He redeems us. He gives us His life, so that we may be freed from every taint of the sin that is in our flesh.