“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.”

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.”

It is said that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. However, one supposes that the Law of Moses brings blessing rather than curse. So how are we to understand it? Verse 10 says: “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.’” We read in the Epistle of James: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (Jam 2:10) No person is able to fulfil all the requirements of the law. So all people are under the curse of the law. Verse 11 says: “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith’.” So justification from sin is by faith in Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus voluntarily took upon Himself the curse which falls on each of us for our sins to redeem us from this curse, which is the fruit of sin, and also to redeem us from eternal death caused by sin.

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received:

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

and that He was buried,

and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

In the Letter to Corinth, the Apostle Paul speaks about the resurrection from the dead. He writes: “Now I would remind you, brethren, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.” (1Cor 15:1-2) Then the Apostle mentions that Jesus appeared to Peter and the Twelve, and he continues: “After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.”

Tradition holds that Jesus first appeared to His Mother, then on the Sunday of resurrection He appeared to Mary Magdalene, and thereafter to the women, to Peter, in the afternoon to the disciples going to Emmaus, and then in the evening to the Apostles who had gathered together in the upper room. A week later, He appeared to the Apostles again, and Thomas was with them. Then the Apostles went to Galilee where Jesus appeared to them by the Lake of Gennesaret early in the morning. During the conversation, He talked especially to Peter to whom He entrusted the authority of the supreme shepherd over His flock. Thereafter He appeared to more than five hundred brethren.

“But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident,

for ‘the just shall live by faith’”

But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident,  for ‘the just shall live by faith’.

It is clearly said here that no one will be justified by the law, and it is emphasized that the just shall live by faith. Let us focus again on the term ‘the just’, both from the natural point of view and from the point of view of the Scripture. The just is the one who gives everyone his due, i.e. giving God, neighbour and oneself what is due by right.

Injustice is to respond to the love of God with indifference. Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, and our response is boycott and unbelief – this is injustice. Let us be just; let us respond to His great love with gratefulness and love.

From the point of view of faith, the word justice also means justification or purification from various injustices and sins. We are justified by faith; not by our works but by faith which is connected with the admitting of our trespasses before God. By faith we are united to Christ’s death on the cross, which means that each of us personally believes in the Word of God saying that Jesus died for all my sins and if I walk in the light, His blood cleanses me from all sin (cf. 1Jn 1:7-9).

“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,

preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying,

‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’”

Verses 6 and 7, which speak of justification by faith, are continued by verse 8. It is said that the Scripture foresees that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. An example is Abraham himself, who was a Gentile but he believed in God, in His almightiness, acknowledged God as his sovereign Lord and surrendered his life to Him. He accepted the moral laws which God had put into the heart of man through conscience. In this respect, Abraham is an example to the Gentiles. If they have the faith of Abraham, God will justify the Gentiles; He promised it to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” However, we have to distinguish between the Gentiles like Abraham and the Gentiles who have embraced religious systems which block them and are the greatest obstacle for the Abrahamic faith because they force the Gentiles to worship demons rather than the one Sovereign God as the Creator and Supreme Lawgiver.

“Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’

Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”

Verse 5, preceding verses 6 and 7, reads: “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Once again, the Apostle emphasizes here that God works miracles not because we keep the law but because we have believed and stand in the faith. The Scripture clearly emphasizes that we must not suppose that God justifies us through our own effort to keep the law. We would be mistaken just as if we thought that God gives us His Spirit through our own effort.

The Apostle continues in verse 6: “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” The Apostle points to Abraham again and sets him as an example of faith. He believed God, believed in God’s almightiness, and he stood in this faith even in the face of hard trials. Faith was accounted to him for righteousness; in other words, he was justified of his sins by faith. The Apostle continues in verse 7: “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” The faith in one God the Creator is the foundation for justification of sins.

“This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit

by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish?

Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”

Chapter three of the Epistle to the Galatians begins as follows: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” And verses 2 and 3 continue: “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

In chapter two, the Apostle points out that we are not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Christ (v.16) and if justification came through the law, then Christ died in vain (v.21). So justification requires faith in Christ Jesus. And now the Apostle reveals that this faith in Christ is also necessary for man to receive the fullness of the Spirit of God like the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. He makes it clear that one does not receive the Spirit of God by the works of the law but again

Let us notice the preceding verses which are related to this verse. It concerns verses 17-20:

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

These verses also include the well-known verse which we often mention; it concerns the truth of being crucified with Christ. It is very deep. We can see that it is set in a whole.

“I do not set aside the grace of God;

for if righteousness comes through the law,

then Christ died in vain.”

“…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law

but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus,

that we might be justified by faith in Christ

and not by the works of the law;

for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

 Both in the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul points to the deep truth which concerns our justification from sin. He says that we know that a man is not justified before God by his works but by faith in Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. We who have believed in Christ Jesus have been justified from our sins by faith in Him.

If we repeat these Bible verses during our prayer stop seven times a day, after calling on the name of God and looking at the five wounds of Christ in our act of repentance, every time we will thus truly put the saving faith into practice. Let us stand in this faith for a while and not doubt that my sins are really forgiven me who have now believed in Christ Jesus, and if relieved of sin I should die now, I would enter eternal glory. Not through my merits, good works or righteousness but by faith through which I believe that Jesus paid for me, for all my sins! I could never make amends for my sins with good works.