The Curse of the Law

Introduction

The further we get into our study of Galatians, the more difficult the passages seem to be. In these first three chapters, we are seeing several ideas repeated over and over. Why do you think that is the case? A careful study of today’s culture would reveal that we are still dealing with the problems that the Galatians had, especially thinking that we can earn our way into a relationship with God. Paul is giving us yet another description of how that thinking makes us come up short. Let’s look at Galatians 3:10-14

Galatians 3:10–14 NIV84

10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” 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 hung on a tree.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

The Bait (vs. 10)

At first glance of the passage, one might have some trouble seeing that the law, which is referring to the first five books of the Bible, is called a curse. Why would Paul refer to part of the Bible as a curse? Look again, he is not referring to part of the Bible as a curse but a lifestyle that demands 100% allegiance to the living by the law, which is impossible to do. This means that the custom of the day was to living life according to what you can do on your own.

I love how The Message clarifies this for us:

Galatians 3:10 M:BCL

10 And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.”

The religious had taken the bait that had been dangled in front of them that they could earn their way into a relationship with God. What is happening here is that adhering to the law mean that you were adoring religion.

Adoring Religion

Religion means “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.” When we focus primarily on that moral code, we become a people that makes the behavior paramount. Let me explain this further. When we focus on behavior, we are setting ourselves up to do the “right things.” For example, we have asked this question before, why do you come to church?

Is it the right thing to do? Were you taught to always come to church? Do you come to church to check off a weekly do-good checklist? If that is the case, then you are a person that adores religion. Paul was an expert in adoring religion. Prior to his conversion, he practiced his religion religiously! Remember what he said in Galatians 1:13-14

Galatians 1:13–14 NIV84

13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

Paul knew what it meant to be religious. He adored his religion. Adoring religion is not necessarily a bad thing especially if it leads to excellent moral behavior. However, being religious and having excellent moral behavior will not lead you to a relationship with God! Neither will acting righteous.

Acting Righteous

Maybe you are one of these people that feel that can act righteous. You feel like you have it all together and you feel qualified to judge others that are beneath you or do not live up to your religious ways. Immediately my crazy mind goes to a song from the mid 1980’s. Part of it says this:

The day the squirrel went berserk In the First Self-Righteous Church In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula (Pascagoula) It was a fight for survival That broke out in revival They were jumpin pews and shouting Hallelujah! (Hallelujah)

Well, Harv hit the aisles dancin' and screamin' Some thought he had religion Others thought he had a demon And Harv thought he had a weed eater loose in his Fruit-Of-The-Looms He fell to his knees to plead and beg And the squirrel ran out of his britches leg Unobserved, to the other side of the room

All the way down to the amen pew Where sat Sister Bertha better-than-you Who'd been watchin' all the commotion with sadistic glee But you should've seen the look in her eyes When that squirrel jumped her garters and crossed her thighs She jumped to her feet and said "Lord have mercy on me" As the squirrel made laps inside her dress She began to cry and then to confess to sins that would make a sailor blush with shame She told of gossip and church dissension but the thing that got the most attention Was when she talked about her love life And then she started naming names!

Then there is the person that is sitting there right now and thinking, “Well I would never allow for anything that would make me laugh in church!” We laugh at the ridiculous-ness of this kind of thing, but the reality is that we tend to nibble the bait of adoring religion and act righteous because we anticipate redemption.

Anticipating Redemption

We think our good deeds will get us right with God. Remember what James said about knowing and doing good deeds? James 2:18-19

James 2:18–19 NIV84

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

When the bait is taken, the hook is set and the bondage occurs.

The Bondage (vs. 11-12)

Verse 11 reminds us that the law clearly is not the way to our Lord. The way of the law leads to a bondage that enslaves us to doing works and trying to be good enough. This bondage causes us to fall short.

Falls Short

We must be reminded that all fall short of the Glory of God. We are perhaps familiar with this verse in Romans 3:23.

Romans 3:23 NIV84

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

However, we need to look at the verses that precede this truth.

Romans 3:9–18 NIV84

9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

These verses that Paul quotes in Romans all come from Old Testament passages. The actions and attitudes of those described definitely fall short and they also fake success.

Fakes Success

I read of a man this week that did social media posts about his rich, lavish lifestyle. He was portrayed as a millionaire traveling the world, driving the fancy sports cars, and living a life a luxury. The report showed that he had been faking his success. His reality was high debt, a foreclosed home and a family that was ruined. That is another aspect of the curse of the law. Fake it until you make it? The Kingdom of God does not have room for that. That which falls short and fakes success will also fail our salvation.

Fails Salvation

The law does not lead to salvation. In fact, even in the time of the law, the Word of God declared that people were justified by faith and not the law. Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 in verse 11 and in verse 12 he quotes Leviticus 18:5

Habakkuk 2:4 NIV84

4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by his faith—

Leviticus 18:5 NIV84

5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.

This is what gets confusing, but remember, if one part of the law was broken, then all of it was.

James 2:10 NIV84

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

The law fails our salvation. But thanks be to God that He has provided a way for us and His name is Jesus!

John Stott wrote, “We cannot be in fellowship with God until we are in favor with Him; and once we are in favor with Him, fellowship with Him is granted to us too!”

The Buy (vs. 13)

There are two words in verse 13 that change everything for us! Those words are “Christ redeemed.” The word for redeemed means “to buy out of slavery by paying a price.” The word was used to describe someone being bought in order to be free.

I used to long to be on a game show. I remember watching these shows and seeing people win all these great prizes for free. Sometimes the game show would be a disappointment.

Let’s Make a Deal

For example, remember Let’s Make a Deal? Monty Hall would have the lovely Carol Merrill point out the choices of door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3. You knew that potentially behind one of those doors there would be a grand prize but also behind one of the doors there would be something junky. The contestant would choose and have the greatest moment or the worst.

The Price is Right

Similarly, the Price is Right would be the same. If you bid the right amount and the closest amount of the actual retail price without going over, you were a winner. In both of these shows, there was a big time winner and a big time loser.

Truth or Consequences

Another game show you might remember was Truth or Consequences. On the show, contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question correctly (usually an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly, or a bad joke) before "Beulah the Buzzer" sounded. On the rare occasions that a contestant did answer correctly, the host would reveal that the question had multiple parts. Failing to complete this "truth" portion meant that the contestant had to face "consequences," typically by performing a zany and embarrassing stunt.

You might be asking, “What does this have to do with the words “Christ redeemed?” God does not come to us and say “Let’s Make a Deal.” He also doesn’t come to us in a way we can bid a price for our atonement. However, He does come to us with some Truth or Consequences. The truth is that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. He hung on a tree, nailed there by your sins and my sins in order that we may be justified before God. He redeemed us in order that we could receive by faith this incredible blessing. What is that blessing? I am so glad you asked!

The Blessing (vs. 14)

The blessing of God is three-fold. First, we are redeemed.

We are Redeemed

Our sins are separated from us as far as the east is from the west.

Psalm 103:12 NIV84

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

We are Restored

Our relationship that was broken has now been mended and we are alive in Christ now and for eternity.

Amos 9:11 NIV84

11 “In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,

We are Reconciled

We are reconciled! Because Christ has redeemed us and restored us, we are reconciled to God Almighty!

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 NIV84

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

However, the consequence of going after the cursed law and trying to do it on your own, is eternal damnation and complete separation from God. Which will you choose?