The Curse of the Law (Galatians 3:10-14)
Notes
Transcript
Pre-Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
There’s a man who is haunted by guilt. He wakes up every morning with a crushing awareness that he’s not good enough. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t shake the feeling that God is displeased with him. So he works—praying for hours, fasting for days, confessing every sin he can remember. But as soon as he leaves the confessional booth, another failure comes to mind, and the weight of his guilt presses down on him again. He punishes himself, hits himself, hoping that somehow, through enough effort, he can make himself worthy in God’s sight. But deep down, he knows the truth—he will never be righteous enough.
Martin Luther, the Augustinian monk from the 16th century, knew this struggle all too well. But he wasn’t the first, and he certainly wasn’t the last. His desperate attempts to earn righteousness are just one example of the burden that every person carries when faced with God’s law. Whether we recognize it or not, we all live under its weight, and as Paul tells us in Galatians 3:10, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” The law doesn’t accept good intentions or partial obedience. If we fail—in even one part—we stand guilty of breaking all of it. And because we all fall short, we stand under the curse of the law—condemned and helpless. The question is, how do we escape?
Post-Introduction
(Recap the Letter)
1:1-10: Paul introduces himself and asserts his apostolic authority
1:11-2:21: Paul tells his own story, demonstrating and proving his authority — that Paul’s Gospel is God’s gospel.
Now, from 3:1 onward, Paul is starting to argue from the Galatians’ personal experience of conversion and from the Old Testament Scriptures, showing that the way they received were declared right before God was the same way Abraham was declared right before God.
The pathway of Abraham’s blessing was not through keeping the law or being circumcised, but by believing in the promises of God.
And so, Paul is going to argue, this is the same way for us. Our pathway to acceptance as a son or daughter of Abraham — being part of God’s family — isn’t about law-keeping or ceremonial rites, it’s about faith — believing, not doing.
Remember, the Judaizers were primarily arguing from Genesis 17, when God commands Abraham to circumcise all of the male covenant children. So these Judaizers are arguing from the example of Abraham and from Genesis 17, so Paul out-quotes them by quoting from Genesis 15 and Genesis 12, several chapters and several years before the events of Genesis 17.
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
This is a quote from Genesis 15:6
And then
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
That’s a quote from Genesis 12:3
Paul is saying, yes, Abraham was circumcised at that time in Genesis 17, but that wasn’t when he was declared right before God.
And so, again his conclusion in Gal 3:7
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
And Galatians 3:9
9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
The pathway to God’s blessings is through faith, and even Abraham’s own life proves it.
That brings us to our text today, Galatians 3:10-14. Paul continues his argument that the pathway of blessing is not through law-keeping, but through Jesus-believing.
The passage we looked at last week looked at this reality from a positive perspective, highlighting the blessing.
In today’s text, Paul looks at the same truth but from a negative perspective, highlighting God’s curse for those who try to win his favor through law-keeping, like the Judaizers.
But he doesn’t end there. We’re also going to hear from God what God’s solution to God’s curse is. And in the end, we’ll find good news in these verses if we have ears to hear.
Would you follow along as I read?
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall 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 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.
Outline
Outline
1. The Penalty: Death (v.10)
1. The Penalty: Death (v.10)
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
Illustration -
How many times do you have to kill someone before you’re a murderer? Just one.
How many times do you have to commit adultery before you’re an adulterer? Just one.
How many times do you have to steal something before you’re a thief? Just one.
How many times do you have to break the law before you’re a law-breaker? Just one.
Explanation -
Paul is trying to help these Galatian believers see that if they rely on works of the law — that is, following the Torah, following the Law code of Moses — then they will be obligated to obey it totally and completely.
If they don’t obey the entire the Law code, they will be guilty as a Law-breaker. It’s all or nothing.
We read something similar in James 2:10
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
You’re either a law-keeper or a law-breaker.
And Paul says if you’re a law-breaker, you will deserve God’s curse, not God’s blessing.
To support this, Paul looks back at the covenant ratification ceremony near the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, when the tribes stood on 2 mountains, Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and pronounced Blessings and Curses. We read this just a few minutes ago for our responsive reading.
If they kept the Law, they would be #Blessed. If they broken the Law, they would be #Cursed. And over and over, the people said “Amen.” Saying, “Yes. We agree. We understand the terms.”
Now, in the immediate context of Deuteronomy 27 and 28, the blessings and the curses are described with reference to life in the land.
So after describing God’s blessing as portrait of flourishing in the land, listen to Moses’s description of God’s curse.
15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
We could spend a lot of time looking at lots of different passages of Scripture, but what we see in Galatians 3 is that Paul is looking back at this pronouncement of Blessing or Curse in the Old Testament and he sees something far more than just physical life in the land of promise.
In fact, he sees the promises of blessing or curse in the Old Testament as foreshadowing something greater. A life of blessing in the land was simply a foreshadowing and a foretaste of what life with God would be like when sin and death were finally eradicated.
That’s why when Paul quotes from Genesis 12:3, when God promises that “In you shall all the nations be blessed” Paul doesn’t see that blessing as restricted to physical well-being and flourishing in their land. No! He says Gal 3:8
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
Paul sees the promise of blessing given to Abraham and his offspring as a promise that God would justify sinners by faith! The great promise given to Abraham was not just that they would have a land, but that they would live in a restored relationship with God by being declared righteous in God’s sight because of Jesus.
The blessing is not only a physical promise that is restricted to life in the land.
My point, then, is that when Paul quotes from the Old Testament and invokes the category of the Curse, we should expect a similar kind of escalation. He’s talking about physical death and something more than physical death; ultimately, spiritual death.
When that category of curse shows up in the covenant context of Deuteronomy 27, we have to remember the pedigree of that word curse.
As Paul has showed us, the word blessing connects back to Abraham, when God promised to bless him and his offspring, but then God promised to curse everyone who opposes Abraham and his offspring.
But then those words go back even further.
The blessing was given to Adam and Eve in the garden, when God created them in His image as male and female and God blessed them and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and rule over the earth as Kings and Queens of Narnia, so to speak. And then at the end of the Bible in Revelation, after God recreates the world and banishes sin and death to the Lake of Fire forever, what do we see? Rev 22:5
5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
The redeemed humanity are reigning forever. They’re back to blessing! Life with God with no sin, no suffering, no death, only blessing. God’s people are once again Kings and Queens of Narnia.
But what about the curse?
The first time we hear the word curse in the Bible is God’s pronouncement of judgment against the Serpent, Satan.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
So what does this mean? The curse is God’s way of dealing with sin, he will destroy it because He is good and just and loving. He loves His world and His people way too much to allow sin to have the last laugh. He will not allow sin to have the final word. He will righteously put down his enemies.
And this pronouncement of the divine curse against Satan extends also to Satan’s offspring. This is why God tells Abraham that anyone who opposes him and his offspring will be cursed.
It is through Abraham that God’s saving blessings will come to the world, eventually, through Jesus, the seed of the woman.
And so now, the Bible will meticulously trace family lines and genealogies and lists of names and people, all in the interest of helping us trace the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent.
What’s the point? The point is that when God says to the people of Israel, “If you don’t keep this Law, you’re going to be cursed,” God is essentially saying to them, and to us if we’ll listen, If you don’t keep the Law perfectly, it’s because you’re on team Satan. It’s because you are of your Father the Devil. It’s because you are on the wrong team, even if you’re a physical descendant of Abraham.
The stakes are high. If you don’t keep the Law, you’ll be cursed. You’ll be cut off from God’s people.
And ultimately, how does God keep his word concerning the curse against the Serpent, Satan? Will God follow through? You’d better believe it.
10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
God is not mocked. Notice, the curse against the Serpent is not just physical death. The Serpent is thrown into the Lake of Fire where he will be tormented forever. Spiritual death is eternal conscious torment. There is no end to his suffering.
And that’s the same fate for everyone who dies in their sin under God’s curse
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
From a whole-Bible perspective, then, the Blessing and the Curse have eternal destinations.
If you’re blessed with Abraham, you’ll enjoy eternal life in God’s presence in heaven and in the New Creation.
If you’re cursed with the Serpent, you’ll experience eternal torment in God’s presence in the Lake of Fire, eternally quarantined away in a black hole of God’s judicial wrath and the removal of his favorable presence forever, as God allows you to keep loving yourself and your sin forever, even as it eats you alive forever.
The stakes are eternally high and horrifying.
The Penalty: Ok Judaizers, if you don’t keep the whole Law perfectly, you are under God’s curse of eternal death.
1. The Penalty: Death (v.10)
1. The Penalty: Death (v.10)
2. The Problem: Sin (vv.11-12)
2. The Problem: Sin (vv.11-12)
We’ve already seen in Paul’s letter that he has articulated two different approaches to being justified — that is, being declared righteous before God.
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
By works of the law: by doing all that the Law requires
By faith: by believing
Now we will see these two different approaches in 3:11-12
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
Explanation
As elsewhere in this chapter, especially, Paul is drawing deeply from the well of Old Testament Scripture.
Here, he quotes from Habbakuk 2 and Leviticus 18, intending to draw a contrast between a life of believing and a life of doing.
Now, there’s some debate as to how exactly Paul is making his argument from these 2 passages — but what I think he’s doing is drawing on some texts that will cause his hearers to think about Israel’s history. He’s arguing redemptive-historically.
If there was one nation on earth who had a shot at obeying God’s law and doing righteousness by loving God and loving one another, it was the nation of Israel.
God had personally delivered them out of slavery from the world’s most powerful military superpower at the time, rescuing them out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, drowning their enemies, leading them and providing for them with water from the rock and bread from the sky, giving them his Law and revealing his gracious intentions to them — only to have the nation of Israel over and over and over rebel against Him.
In fact, what we learn when we read the Prophets and the New Testament is that the majority of the Jewish people throughout the era of the Mosaic Covenant — from Moses all the way up to the time of Jesus — from the time of the Judges to the time of Saul and David and Solomon, all throughout the years and years of Divided Monarchy, the majority of the Jewish people were not eternally saved. Yes, there was always a believing remnant among the Jewish people. But the overwhelming majority were members of the covenant , but they were unbelievers. Unregenerate. Not saved.
And so, as Paul looks back at Leviticus 18, which says “The one who does them shall live by them,” Paul can say confidently, “well no wonder the Jewish people were cast from their land and cut off from the land of the living and no wonder so many of the Jewish people were not true believers in Jesus even in Paul’s own day — the Jewish people have proved that no one can keep the Law perfectly. “
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law...
The entire history of God’s people Israel is a demonstration of the futility of Law-keeping because of the ever-present reality of human sin.
What’s the problem to Law-keeping for justification? Sin
We’re not as good as we think we are.
This was certainly the case for the Jewish people in Paul’s day.
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Here they are — these Jewish people who are, what? seeking to establish their own righteousness
“Those who do not find their righteousness in Christ inevitably end up exalting their own righteousness and goodness. . . Either we trust in the righteousness that is given to us as a gift or we rely on the righteousness we produce." (Thomas Schreiner)
Illustration
Jesus-only or Jesus-plus. Those are the only two options.
This isn’t just a Jewish problem; it’s a human problem.
Throughout history, people have tried to earn righteousness through their own efforts, convinced that if they just worked hard enough, they could be justified before God.
One striking example of this is the 5th-century monk Pelagius. He taught that humans were born morally neutral and fully capable of obeying God’s law without the need for divine grace. In his view, salvation wasn’t ultimately about faith—it was about effort. If you just tried hard enough, you could be righteous. But this directly contradicted what Paul says here in Galatians: “No one is justified before God by the law.”
Pelagius’ teachings were rightly condemned as heresy because they denied the very heart of the gospel—our complete dependence on God’s grace. Like Israel, Pelagius and his followers ignored the fundamental problem: sin. No matter how much zeal or discipline someone has, apart from faith in Christ, all efforts to achieve righteousness on our own will ultimately fail.
Application
1. The Penalty: Death (v.10)
1. The Penalty: Death (v.10)
2. The Problem: Sin (vv.11-12)
2. The Problem: Sin (vv.11-12)
3. The Provision: Jesus (v.13)
3. The Provision: Jesus (v.13)
The hopelessness of justification through law-keeping leads Paul to the incredible provision for our need: the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
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”—
Explanation
Paul again is drawing from the well of the Old Testament, and he quotes from Deuteronomy 21, where the Law states that if someone in the covenant community commits a capital offense and is hung on a tree, the body needs to be removed by the end of the day and buried so as to not ceremonially defile their land.
And the important point for Paul’s purposes is the phrase that says that a man who is hung on a tree is cursed by God.
I think what we have here is a glimpse of Paul’s own conversion experience.
Remember, Paul lived in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. We don’t know if he witnessed it with his own eyes, but we know he was very aware of this crucified Rabbi named Jesus.
And we know that Paul was completely repulsed by this crucified man.
The Messiah of Israel was supposed to come with strength and military might, but this Jesus was clearly cursed by God - he was crucified!
But when the risen Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, all of a sudden Paul realized something huge: if Jesus rose from the dead, that means God vindicated Jesus after all. In other words, Jesus didn’t hang on a cross because He deserved a curse, but because we deserved a curse.
Jesus didn’t suffer and die and face God’s wrath for his own sins, but for our sins.
And if Jesus stood in as a substitute, dying for sins that were not his own, then the only explanation for that is that Jesus must be God in the flesh and no mere human, because
7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
Only God could pay the price for human sin.
And the beauty and wonder of the Christian faith is that Jesus —God in the flesh— has done just that.
In Jesus’ death on the cross, Jesus has taken our curse. He became a curse FOR US.
In case anyone ever tries to convince you substitution is some kind of distortion of the Bible’s teachings, here’s a great place you can go: FOR US. That means IN MY PLACE.
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”—
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Application
Let me talk to those of you who have a sensitive, aggressive, hyper in-tune conscience.
(Explain the heartbeat behind the song Embracing Accusation.)
(Aim for those who are tormented by their failures and sins.)
Illustration
“Embracing Accusation” by Shane and Shane
Verse 1
The father of lies coming to steal, kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying, "Cursed are the ones who can't abide"
He's right, Hallelujah, he's right
Chorus
The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation, embracing accusation
Verse 2
Could the father of lies be telling the truth
Of God to me tonight?
If the penalty of sin is death, then death is mine
I hear him saying, "Cursed are the ones who can't abide"
He's right, Hallelujah, he's right
Chorus
The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Bridge
Oh, the devil's singing over me an age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently over me
He's forgotten the refrain, Jesus saves
Ending
He redeemed us from the curse of the Law...
He redeemed us from the curse of the Law...
He redeemed us from the curse of the Law...
He redeemed us from the curse of the Law...
4. The Pathway: Faith (v.14)
4. The Pathway: Faith (v.14)
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.
Explanation
Now at the end, Paul comes full circle, back to the Blessing of Abraham.
He says the Pathway to Blessing — the pathway to being declared righteous before God and to therefore enjoy fellowship with God forever comes how?
Not through law-keeping. Through faith.
Or, put another way
Big Idea: The pathway of blessing is not through law-keeping, but through Jesus-believing.
Everything hinges on your union with Jesus or your lack of union with Jesus.
If you are united to Jesus by faith, then what’s yours is his and what’s his is yours. That’s the Great Exchange.
Jesus gets your sin when he becomes a sin offering on your behalf and he absorbs your curse for you on the cross. And then you get Christ’s righteousness credited to your account just like Abraham had righteousness credited to his account when he believed in God.
If you are not united to Jesus by faith, then you have no chance at righteousness from law-keeping and you have no future other than experiencing God’s curse for your sin.
And it all hinges on whether you will believe in Jesus to do for you what you could never do for yourself.
Big Idea: The pathway of blessing is not through law-keeping, but through Jesus-believing.
Illustration
This is what we’ve been singing all month in our Song of the Month.
“All Sufficient Merit”
Verse 1
All sufficient merit shining like the sun
A fortune I inherit by no work I have done
My righteousness I forfeit at my Savior's cross
Where all sufficient merit did what I could not
Verse 2
In love He condescended eternal now in time
A life without a blemish the Maker made to die
The law could never save us our lawlessness had won
Until the pure and spotless Lamb had finally come
Verse 3
I lay down my garment any empty boast
Good works now all corrupted by the sinful host
Dressed in my Lord Jesus a crimson Robe made white
No more fear of judgment His righteousness is mine
Verse 4
All sufficient merit firm in life and death
The joy of my salvation shall be my final breath
When I stand accepted before the throne of God
I'll gaze upon my Jesus and thank Him for the cross
Yes, I'll thank You for the cross
Chorus
It is done it is finished
No more dеbt I owe
Paid in full all sufficient
Merit now my own
Conclusion
Conclusion
For years, he lived in fear—striving, confessing, punishing himself—desperate to escape the weight of his sin. But no matter how hard he tried, the burden remained. Then one day, as he poured over the Scriptures, the truth broke through: “The righteous shall live by faith.” In that moment, Martin Luther saw what had been there all along—righteousness was never something he could achieve. It was something he had to receive.
Jesus Christ took the curse that he, that we, deserved. As Paul writes in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” On the cross, Jesus bore the full penalty of our failure so that we could receive His righteousness as a gift. No more striving. No more guilt. No more fear.
This is the good news of the gospel: the curse is lifted, not because we have done enough, but because Christ has done it all. And through faith, we are finally free.
Big Idea: The pathway of blessing is not through law-keeping, but through Jesus-believing.
Gospel Call! (Invitation)
You don’t have to live in constant fear or constant guilt
You don’t have to be crushed by never being able to measure up
There’s really really good news for you here, if you’ll turn from your sins and trust in Jesus and in Jesus alone.
If you need help knowing how to do that, why don’t you come talk to me after the service. I’ll be right up here at the front and we can go meet in a quiet place and walk through how you can know that your sins are forgiven and that you stand in the righteous of Jesus.
