Galatians 3.10-20.
So
But we weren’t meant to be righteous by obeying the Law. Righteousness comes through faith in God. Through trusting Jesus’s self-sacrifice. Through the good news that God’s kingdom has come near.
God promised Abraham he’d bless the world—both Abraham’s “seed,” his descendants; and
Now Paul wasn’t the first Pharisee to notice this problem. Plenty of Pharisees had. So they invented stories where the L
If Paul believed any of these stories he wouldn’t bother with this line of reasoning. But he knew better. Abraham’s
Whereas not only does the Law not justify us, nor anyone; it actually curses us. And kinda hinders any promise God made to Abraham, because it exposes deficiencies in our relationship with God. Deficiencies our trust in Jesus can overcome—if only we’d trust him.
Galatians 3.10-12 KWL - 10 Whoever works the Law is under its curse, for this is written:
- “Everyone who doesn’t persevere in doing all this book of the Law’s writings, is cursed.”
Dt 27.26 - 11 Clearly no one’s justified under the Law: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Ha 2.4 - 12 And the Law isn’t based on faith, but “One who does them must live by them.”
Lv 18.5 - 13 Christ Jesus frees us from the Law’s curse by becoming a curse for us,
- for it’s written that anyone who’s been hanged from wood is cursed.
Dt 21.23 - 14 Thus Abraham’s blessings might come through Christ Jesus to the gentiles;
- thus the Spirit’s promise might be received through faith in Christ.
Verse 12 tends to get translated like the
Deuteronomy 21.22-23 KWL - 22 When it happens that a person’s sin is judged worthy of death, and you hang them to death on a tree,
- 23 don’t leave their corpse on the tree overnight, but bury, bury them that day. For God’s curse is on the hanged.
- Don’t defile your ground which your L
ORD God gave you as an inheritance.
A cross isn’t a literal tree, but when the Persians first invented crucifixion they used trees—and crosses became a substitute ’cause there weren’t always enough trees. Applying the Deuteronomy passage to Jesus is a little bit of a stretch—isn’t God’s curse more about the convict’s sins than the hanging itself? But Jesus, who had no sins of his own,
And in so doing, also give us free access to Abraham’s promise. Legalism is wholly unnecessary: We don’t have to be good to inherit Abraham’s promise. We’re good. Jesus took care of it.