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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
As opposed to the blessing, which is grace, the Law is a curse upon all mankind, none of whom can possibly fulfill its requirements. While the Law itself is perfect and holy, those who try to justi...
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Bruce Lyon
Supporter
What is the curse of the law? It is what happens when one cannot obey all that the law of Moses requires. James says if you break one point of the law you have broken all of it. The law was given to show that man cannot do anything to gain salvation outside of looking to the lord Jesus the anointed one. Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus the anointed onet, even we have believed in Jesus the anointed one, that we might be justified by the faith of the anointed one, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. No man has keep the works of the law perfectly except the lord Jesus the anointed one, all others failed to do so. Galatians 3:13 The anointed one hat redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: Great mercy and wonderful grace! Why was the law given? Galatians 3:19 ¶ Wherefore then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed [God's anointed One] should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Notice Galatians 3:22-25: But the scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus the anointed one might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto the anointed one, that we might be justified [declared not guilty before God's throne] by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. What are we to do now? Galatians 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith the anointed one has made us free, and don't become entangled again with the yoke of bondage. What amazing grace our God has provided for us in His beloved son Jesus!
Joe cattani
Supporter
It is written "the law is death". Laws are given to society, not individuals, meaning the law was established for everyone not just me. The "law" by definition is "guilty". We murdered before there was a law forbidding murder. We assault people before there was a law forbidding assault. There is no law forbidding us to travel to Mars, because no one goes to Mars. We may think "thats what others do, not me".it is said" what the finger does, so does the body", meaning the finger pulled the trigger, but the hand held the the gun, the feet suported the legs that carried the hand to the location, the eyes aimed the gun. Christians should not try to separate our selves from society, we all bare some of the guilt of others, as they bare some responsibly for our guilt. What Jesus was saying is if we need laws to tell us right from wrong, then we still have a long way to go. He wasn't condemning the law, but us.
Ariel HaNaviy
Supporter
*adapted from my Galatians commentary available in the Reading Plans at eBible here: http://ebible.com/plans/landing/608 This verse when misunderstood from its larger context will invariably lead the reader to the incorrect conclusion that Sha'ul (Paul) is advocating complete and mitzvah-by-mitzvah (commandment-by-commandment) Torah submission for everyone wishing to attain right-standing with the Almighty. That the 1st century Judaisms did not advocate a view that required complete Torah obedience before one could be counted as a covenant member is attested to in the later rabbinic compilations that survived the destruction of the Temple. Put simply, no one in Paul’s day thought that a person must practically walk out each and every single commandment in order to receive covenant membership into Isra'el (viz, salvation). Nor did anyone in Paul’s day believe that God expected such obedience of Isra'el. Our verse is a contrast to the previously statement made in verse 6 where Avraham (Abraham) is said to have been considered righteous on the basis of his faith. By comparison, those who do not imitate Avraham, but instead seek to circumvent God’s method of declaring a person righteous actually fall into the trap of legalism. Such individuals, instead of living within the blessing of God, were in reality found to be the object of God’s curse, because instead of submitting to God’s way of making a person righteous through objective faith in Yeshua (Jesus), they were said to be setting up their own way of righteousness through ethnic status/Isra'elite membership, a charge leveled against unbelieving Isra'el by Sha'ul himself in Romans 9:31, 32-10:3. The phrase “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law" is lifted from Deuteronomy 27:26, indicated by the familiar “for it is written.” The key to correctly understanding the verse from Deuteronomy, and thus Paul’s use of it here in Galatians, is in understanding that “everything written in the Book” also—and primarily!—includes faith in Yeshua as the Promised Messiah. For indeed, Yeshua is the very conclusion, the very goal that “everything written in the Book” is pointing to! (cf. Romans 10:4) God is not asking his followers to try to keep every commandment in the Law as some sort of simplistic grocery list of do’s and don't’s in order to avoid being cursed. Paul sees another “gospel” being presented by his detractors (the gospel of Jewish identity and proselyte conversion for Gentiles) and he is out to set the record straight in this section of his letter by using Avraham as an example. Paul is going to prove his argument—that genuine and lasting covenant membership is granted exclusively to those exercising objective faith in the Promised Messiah of the Law—by directly quoting from the Torah itself. The reference here by Sha'ul however is neither a direct quote from the Masoretic Hebrew text, nor a direct quote from the Greek Septuagint (LXX). He may be paraphrasing the general meaning of the verse for his readers. The meaning is nevertheless captured by Sha'ul: the genuine and lasting covenant member to be, as well as the existing covenant member, must follow after all that God has spoken to do, which includes “listening to all the words of the Prophet that God raised up among them” (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15)—namely Yeshua! Picking and choosing which commandments are relevant and which ones aren’t is not left to the covenant member. Each and every covenant member bound himself to pursue the “Righteous One” promised by the Torah, as already mentioned above. The very thing that a covenant member was expected to do was to exercise faith in God and in his Messiah to come, who by Sha'ul’s writing had already arrived! The individual who failed to matriculate to the “Messianic conclusion” ultimately found himself a candidate for being “cut off” by God himself due to his lack of faith.
Ben Jones
Supporter
What happens when we read the Old Testament law? We feel guilty before God! Did the Law justify us before God. No it does not nor can it make us right with God. Did the Law ever love me? No. Did the Law ever sacrifice itself for me? No. Did the Law ever die for me? No. The law does not sanctify us; it does not take us deeper with God nor does it make us more holy before Him. Thankfully Someone saved me from the Law from sin and death and saved me unto eternal life. That Somebody is Jesus Christ the Son of God, and I will praise Him forever.
Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
Before I accepted Christ as my personal Savior, I was on my way to hell and about to hear Jesus’ words in MT 25:41 “Then shall he [the King] say also unto them on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:’” I tried being a good person (most of the time), but when I failed, I promised God that I would do better. Somehow, I couldn’t. And it was if I was under a curse: NET For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” "The term [curse]--and the thing signified--plays an important part in Paul's interpretation of the cross. In the light of the law all men are guilty. There is no acquittal through appeal to a law that commands and never forgives--prohibits and never relents. The violator of the law is under a curse. His doom has been pronounced. Escape is impossible. But on the cross Jesus Christ endured the curse--for "cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal 3:10,13)--and a curse that has overtaken its victim is a spent force." T. Lewis The violation of the law given to Adam was attended with a curse, as well as that given to the Israelites by Moses, and that it is the more general curse. Benson says it best: “… it is the curse of that more ancient law of works, under which Adam and Eve fell, and which, through their fall, came on all their posterity.” [theologians call this ‘The Fall of Man’] “Also, it is the curse of the law of nature, under which all mankind, as the subjects of God’s universal moral government, are lying for having broken that law. These curses are called by the general name of ‘the curse of the law.’ From this curse of the law of works, Christ has bought us off, by becoming a curse for us.” As the hymnwriter, Philip P. Bliss, so eloquently expressed it, “Cursed by the law [Gal 3:10], and bruised by the Fall***, Christ hath redeemed us once for all.” ***Isaiah 53:5 Living Bible: 5 But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed!
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