"The Curse of the Law"
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, The just shall live by faith… Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree; That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
— Galatians 3:10-14
There is nothing clearer in scripture than the contrast between the law and grace. The Galatian saints wanted to keep a foot in both, and Paul forcefully confronted their split personality in his letter to them. If one wanted to work out their salvation through the law, they would be required to keep the whole law – all 613 commandments – perfectly from the moment they take their first breath until their last. The Galatians wanted to keep circumcision, but for Paul, if they wanted to be circumcised it was only the start, they needed to keep the other 612 commandments as well. For Paul, Torah meant what it said. It was all or nothing. James concurs when he wrote, “For whosoever shall, save in one point, keep the whole law, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10) Miss one. Game over. Paradise lost. The moment a person breaks the law, they fall under the judgement of the law, which is what Paul calls the “curse of the law.”
To support his argument, Paul paraphrases a passage from Deuteronomy to demonstrate that the law itself demands absolute righteousness, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” (Deut 27:26) Paul rightly applies this curse of condemnation to “as many as are of the works of the law.” Anyone, like the Judaizers that Paul is addressing, who assume they can please God by keeping the law actually condemn themselves because they fail to keep the whole law.
Just like the saints in Galatia, some today believe that portions of the Torah (law) should still be kept. Some theologians even divide the law into three categories: the moral, the civil (or social), and the ceremonial (or liturgical). The moral Law, it is argued, refers primarily to the Ten Commandments, and reflects God’s unchanging moral principles that all believers must follow as rules for life. The civil or social part of the law refers to regulations governing Israel as a nation. Finally, the ceremonial or liturgical part of the law refers to the details of sacrificial worship. Those who break the law into three units argue that the civil and ceremonial portions of the law have been done away with but say that Christians are still under the moral aspects of the law as day-to-day rules of life.
This threefold division of the law is nowhere taught in scripture. Whether it is circumcision as it was with the Galatian saints or those who believe the moral portion of the law should still be kept Paul and James’ arguments come to bear – those who keep one part of the law as rules for a God-pleasing life are obligated to keep it all. We have no right to pick and choose which rules and regulations to follow. Doing so or teaching so is an affront to God’s grace and mercy and only provokes His judgement. One cannot mix faith in Christ with the tenants of the law. “The law is not of faith.” (Gal 3:12) In Jesus the law was fulfilled, and its deadness came to an end. Jesus himself explains, “Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfill the law; therefore, it hath an end.” (3 Nephi 7:6) Jesus also explained that in the new covenant, all of the law is encapsulated in two commandments. Loving God and loving neighbor as self. (see Matthew 22:35-39)
In Galatians 3:11, Paul says, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, The just shall live by faith.” He is quoting from Habakkuk (see Habakkuk 2:4) where in the original context God had just revealed that the southern kingdom (Judah) was going to fall to the Babylonians. This news stunned Habakkuk, but God reassured him that Babylon itself would not go unpunished. That cruel kingdom would triumph for a time, but God would have the ultimate triumph. Those who trusted in him no matter how bleak the circumstances, would be delivered. Paul’s point is that without faith keeping the external stipulations of the law was profitless. Even Israel, living under the law, was delivered from its curse by faith. Before Paul, Amulek expressed the same point when he tells the Zoramites, “And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance, is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore, only unto him that has faith unto repentance, is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.”
So, how does faith remove us from the curse of the law? Paul tells us that Christ, who lived a perfect, righteous life, nevertheless suffered the curse of the law. (Gal 3:13) By suffering death “on a tree,” that is, a cross of wood, Jesus experienced the kind of death the law reserves for one who is cursed. Though Jesus was the only one to ever fulfill the law perfectly, He voluntarily submitted to a punishment associated with cursed sinners. Yet He didn’t die as a result of His own sin, but as a substitute for those who actually deserved such punishment – you and me. The Greek word translated “redeemed” in Galatians 3:13 is exagorazo and is related to the Greek word agora meaning “marketplace.” It refers to purchasing or ransoming a person, as a slave might be purchased from the slave market. Though we were once in bondage to the law and under its constant condemnation, Christ’s death in our place has paid the price for our release, freeing us from the curse of the law and releasing us to serve Christ in a new life where we can grow from grace to grace. “Wherefore, the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ, because of our faith.” (2 Nephi 11:46)
In His plan of salvation, God did not need to relax one letter of His perfect law to accommodate us wretched sinners who could not get through a single day without violating it. Instead, He sent His Son to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law for us and to suffer the law’s sentence of death for us. The eternal Son of God – sinless, glorious, and holy – took upon himself the frailties of the flesh and came into our sin-infested world. He overcame, and voluntarily took what we deserved, the judgement of God against sin, and gave us what we could never earn – a right standing before God.