His Cross or My Works

Galatians 3:10–14 ESV

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.

Introduction

The Apostle Paul has penned a letter to the Churches of Galatia, who are being harassed by a group known as the Judaizers. The Galatians have heard the Gospel from Paul and have now heard some information from the Judaizers that would cause them to question the Gospel. They believe there is a need to somehow add to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cement their salvation. The Judaizers are pointing the new believers to Abraham and the need for circumcision to be a true son of Abraham and Paul is very concerned about them.

Galatians 1:6 ESV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

Galatians 3:1 ESV

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

So he is writing this letter to them to ensure the understanding of the Gospel, he does this in a couple of ways:

Reaffirms his credentials as an Apostle and one who is not an Apostle based on the other apostles (John, Peters (Cephas), James, etc.), but through his appointment by Jesus. (Galatians 1)

His zealousness for the truth of the Gospel (Galatians 2)

His presentation of works vs faith (Galatians 3-5)

His expected walk of those who are in the Gospel (Galatians 6)

We are going to take a look at part 3 above, where Paul presents an argument for faith which justifies as opposed to works.

Works of the Law

Galatians 3:10 ESV

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.”

All who rely on works of the law

Paul is singling out a group. Those who are trying to take the Galatians back to doing works as opposed to wholly placing their faith in the Gospel.

Works of the law, the actual doing of the law, the energy that is put into performing the deeds and action that the law dictates.

The law, this is pointing to the law of Moses, those first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah, the Pentateuch. This is being referenced. Note there are 613 commandments in the Jewish law.

581.Not to curse a ruler, that is, the King in the land of Israel (Ex. 22:28)

467.Not to break a bone of the Paschal lamb (Ex. 12:46)

367.Not to wear garments made of wool and linen mixed together (Deut. 22:11)

277.Not to pretend not to have seen lost property, to avoid the obligation to return it (Deut. 22:3)

Now, these four and the 609 others needed to be done if you relied on the law.

are under a curse

The issue with all the laws is that you are under a curse because when depending on yourself you can’t keep them.

Israel, who had been taken out of slavery by the LORD. The LORD saw to it that they were cared for in the wilderness, gave them what they needed. They could not keep the law.

Deuteronomy 27:26 ESV

26 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

When you hear Jesus tell what was really meant for the Decalogue, from the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

We couldn’t keep this, just this week. How many of us wanted to give our co-workers a piece of our mind. when they told us to cut the camera on for the zoom meeting , how many us weren’t fussing. Hurling insults around like water balloons.

This curse is one that Paul brings up, because those who are under the laws cannot avoid it, unless you are Jesus. So if you want to put yourself under the law then you are cursed.

Cursed be Everyone

Paul reaches back to the Old Testament to prove his point. We find this text in Deut 27:26.

Deuteronomy 27:26 ESV

26 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

This passages closes a group of 12 things the Levite Priests would say to the people from Mt. Ebal. The point was to announce the separation of themselves from the activities that would lead to a curse.

The activity was ultimately an affront to God and the curse would be visited on those who performed the activity by God. This would means that they would be separated from their people and from their land. They would forfeit their belonging to the people of God and the land that was provided by God. So Paul is noting that to belong to the law, is to do all the law, and not doing so results in being cursed.

Application

We see this in other religions today:

Hebrew Israelites

Seventh Day Adventists

Muslims

We even do this to each other:

When someone does not have the same view as you

When someone does not have the same patriotism you have

When someone has a difference of opinion

When someone posts something that you do not like

We have to be careful that we are not placing on ourselves anything that would attempt to add to or take away from the efficacy of the Gospel.

Live By Faith

Galatians 3:11 ESV

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

No one is Justified before God by the Law

Paul continues his current thought, but tells what the law does not do, and faith does.

Paul gives us this word justified, we need to define.

δικαιόω (dikaióō) -

to render a favorable verdict, vindicate;

of experience or activity of transcendent figures, esp. in relation to humans;

of God be found in the right, be free of charges;

be acquitted, be pronounced and treated as righteous

William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 249. (BDAG)

It is clear, without a doubt, because of the curse that is met when being under the law, that clearly is not the way. It is not the way to be justified before God,

Let’s talk about the law for a second. Note that the law is not bad. The law gives us insight in the nature and character of God. We get to see how he cares for the orphans and widows and immigrants. We get to see how God views murder and stealing. The law tells about God and who He is and tells us about His will for our lives.

So the issue is not that they law is bad per se, rather we are cursed because we cannot keep the law. Romans tells us that no one keeps the law, we all sin, that none is righteous (Romans 3:23). Ephesians 2:1 tells us that we were dead, deserving of the wrath of God.

What Paul is saying is that we cannot be justified before God, the Person of God, not some abstract standard, or non-person, but God the creator of the universe the maker of all things seen and unseen, the one who hung the stars, we need to be justified before this God, the one who is holy, who exists in and of Himself, who stands in need of nothing, who exists outside of time and space.

You means to tell me that I need to be justified before Him, and that I will work to get there, that I will somehow keep all the law and be found justified before God.

Paul is saying that won’t work, it is not going to happen.

The righteous shall live by faith

What Paul does tell us is the if you are justified then it is by faith, the righteous shall live by faith, you are righteous is you are justified and life is by faith, not by works. Those who are found to be righteous, those who are found to be justified, those who are in the family of God as sons and daughters shall live by faith.

Works can’t get it done, but faith can. Works can’t get you there but faith can. Works leave you cursed, but faith gives you life.

Faith can get it done, that is what was accounted to Abraham because he believed the LORD. Abraham righteousness came through believing, through faith, not through any of the actions that he did, for this was given to him prior to anything that Abraham had done.

Genesis 15:6 ESV

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Law is Not Of

Galatians 3:12 ESV

12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

But the law is not of faith

To cement his point of works of the law vs faith he continues the contrast of the two.

The law and The faith are not the same.

The law cannot do what faith does, they are summarily different

Different Purposes

Different Outcomes

This is not to say that one is bad and the other isn’t, it is to say that they are utterly different, so doing one cannot get you to the other.

The law was provided for transgressions, to show us sin

Galatians 3:19 ESV

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

The law has no power to give life

Galatians 3:21 ESV

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

The law is not the way that God redeemed mankind

Galatians 3:24 ESV

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

The one who does them shall live by them

If you commit to the law then you commit fully. Your life is dictated by which you are under. You either live by faith or you live by the law.

One justifies while the other places you under a curse.

Application

We have to ensure we are working from the right place. A place of faith or a place of trying to be good enough. Just as the poem, if we think ‘If I ...’ then we are missing the point. the I can’t get it done, you can’t do enough.

If you think that my Mama or Grandmama did so I am good, that does not get you right before God. We need to examine why we do what we do, We need to make sure we are not doing things just because they are the norm or because they earn us any points. they don’t. You live by works of the law or by faith in Christ, there is no in between.

The Redemption

Galatians 3:13 ESV

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”—

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law

To redeem was to buy back or out, to deliver, to liberate this has a sense of manumissions or the money that a slave could pay to buy their freedom.

Christ redeemed from the curse of the law. Paul takes us back to verse 10, where he talked about cursed is the one under the law, or who relies on the law.

When there was no other focus than on the law, Christ steps on the scene to secure our deliverance from the law. To remove the curse, to ensure that justification and righteousness and life were at our disposal.

Becoming a curse for us

The way this was done, was that the Christ took what we deserved. The issue is that Jesus Christ did not deserve what we deserved. When He became a curse for us, this means that he took the curse that rightfully belonged to us.

The one who knew no sin became sin for us

The one without fault was accused on our behalf

The one who kept the law had the curse of the realized against Him

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

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.

The curse that we could not avoid was taken on by Christ.

Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree

We see this curse by Jesus hanging on a cross.

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ESV

22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Paul is quoting a passage that applies to some who has committed a capital punishment. That person is put on a tree and displayed as an indication of guilt and shame. The law says that because that one who is hanged they must come down before the day is over, since they are cursed.

Well, Jesus hanged in open shame as one guilty, although no just cause could be found against Him. Jesus was on a tree on Golgotha hill needing to come down before nightfall. Jesus’ curse as already stated was not his, but ours and Jesus redeemed us from the very curse that he carried for us.

So That ...

Galatians 3:14 ESV

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.

in Christ Jesus

There is no other way, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Jesus is the one who did the work that we could not do.

Blessing of Abraham

The blessing is for the nations through Abraham Offspring, who is Jesus.

Galatians 3:8 ESV

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.”

The plan all along was for Gentiles to be justified, this happens through Israel, this would only happen when Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, the seed of a woman, the seed of Abraham came to do the work we could not do and pay the price we could not pay. So the blessing of Abraham, the blessing of the nations through him, is only available to Gentiles in Christ. In Christ Gentiles now have access to that blessing.

Receive the promised Spirit through faith

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

We are in Christ, because or Christ. We are sealed with the Spirit, because of Christ, we have received the promised Holy Spirit, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and we like those in Acts and all since the day of Pentecost have received the Holy Spirit at the moment we believed.

Thank you Jesus.

Conclusion

As we are in this Easter Season

Next week is Palm Sunday

The week after is Easter Sunday / Resurrection Sunday

Take some time to reflect on the Gospel, what believing Jesus Christ really means, how having faith in Jesus impacts life, eternal life.

Reflect on where you would be without Jesus, the hopelessness that we would have with out the resurrection.

Then praise the Lord, Give a shout, Shout in Triumph, because those of us who believe are in, we need do no more to be justified, no more to be righteous, let us not put anything on anyone else.