Galatians 3:13, commentary and pictures

Christ redeemed humanity from the curse of the broken law, which is the misery, suffering and death that must follow sin, by Himself being counted a transgressor and treated as sinners deserve though He was sinless and innocent, hung on the shameful tree between heaven and earth. As substitute and surety He took the place of every descendant of Adam with their guilt heaped upon Him, bearing the wrath of God against iniquity with the hiding of the Father's face, in mental agony far greater than bodily pain that broke His heart. Only One equal with God could satisfy the claims of a law as sacred as God Himself and make atonement, which He did from pity and infinite compassion to ransom humanity from Satan's power and open the way to Paradise and immortal life. His death proves the law could not be changed or abolished to accommodate sin, but upheld, vindicated and honored its holiness and justice by paying in death the penalty for disobedience. In unspeakable exchange the Sinless One who is the Blessing bore the curse so guilty sinners who were cursed go free into blessing, with His righteousness imputed to them and His perfection offered in place of their sinfulness to be received by faith through the free grace of God alone and not by human works.

Words and Historic Setting

The curse is the penalty incurred by breaking God's law, namely misery, suffering and death, which are the sure and inevitable result of sin because all of God's laws were ordained to life. Fallen sinners stand under the curse of the Father's law, and only because Christ bore that curse can any person hope to escape bearing its dire results in his own person, for God does not pardon sin unconditionally by setting aside justice. Those who accept the offered mercy and atonement are redeemed from the law's curse by Him who undertook humanity's redemption by bearing the guilt of sin.

Being made a curse means being counted a transgressor and treated as sinners deserve, though sinless and innocent and having no share in sin. When the transgressions of the world were laid and heaped upon Him He was numbered with transgressors and among the unholy, standing as substitute and surety before the Father to bear human iniquity. He died as one condemned, hung between heaven and earth, lifted up on the shameful tree and fastened by spikes through hands and feet, enduring scorn, cruelty and suffering almost every cruelty that wicked men could inflict. Looking to Him thus lifted up brings hope, courage, faith, pardon and life.

He suffered outside the camp and outside Jerusalem's gate where criminals, felons and murderers were executed. As Adam and Eve were banished from Eden for transgressing the law, so He trod the winepress alone, banished without the boundaries of the holy place. His suffering beyond the city's boundaries in the place of execution fulfilled His substitutionary role of bearing the penalty that should have rested on the sinner.

He gave His life not only for the Jewish nation but for the whole world. His death proclaimed salvation to every people and to all kindreds, tongues and people, to all the ends of the earth: look unto Me and be saved. This universal proclamation was shown by the inscription above the cross written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The altar of unhewn stone for sacrifice built on Mount Ebal, the mountain on which the curse was put, represents His atonement bearing the curse to hold back God's wrath justly incurred by Israel's transgression from falling at once on lawbreakers.

Substitutionary Suffering Endured

Christ took the sinner's place as humanity's substitute and surety, bearing the curse and guilt brought by disobedience so fallen people could be redeemed. The iniquity and guilt of every descendant of Adam and of people of every age was laid and heaped upon Him till He groaned beneath its weight, and He was counted a transgressor and among the unholy, treated as sinners deserve before the Father and the heavenly angels.

He bore judicial punishment for sin, the wrath of God and the terrible manifestation of divine displeasure against iniquity. The hiding of the Father's reconciling face and the withdrawal of the divine countenance pierced His heart with consternation and sorrow, bringing fear of eternal separation and despairing mental agony far greater than bodily pain. That anguish did not come from dread of death or from the pain and ignominy of the cross, which He hardly felt, but from the sense of the malignity of sin and the burden of the world's sins separating Him from the felt assurance of His Father's love, an anguish beyond what a human being could endure and live, which broke His heart and drew the cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, as He died beneath the sins of the world.

The Father had part in and suffered with the Son, while darkness gathered like the pall of death about the cross. All nature sympathized with its dying Author with thunderings, lightnings and earthquake, the hosts of heaven veiled their faces and looked on with sorrow and amazement, and hardened men quarreled at the foot of the cross over His vesture. Only Christ could redeem fallen people from the curse and bring them back into harmony with heaven, because the broken law demanded the life of the sinner and the divine law is as sacred as God Himself, so only One equal with God could satisfy its claims and make atonement for its transgression. Moved by pity and infinite compassion for the woes of the lost world, He takes upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin so offensive to a holy God that it separates the Father and the Son, reaching to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race, a plan divine love conceived whereby man might be redeemed.

By giving His life He won the final victory, ransoming humanity from Satan's power and breaking death's dominion. He took upon Himself the curse and stigma of sin and died as one condemned, hung between heaven and earth standing between divine wrath and guilty humanity, and His death is the ransom that saves many. Through His death He wrested from Satan his last weapon for gaining the kingdoms of the world and opened free salvation, the way to Paradise, immortal life and happiness within the reach of all, so people may be freed from the power of evil through Him.

To do this He laid aside His crown and royal robe, left all His glory in heaven, and clothed His divinity with humanity, taking human nature in the form of a servant in its deteriorated condition. The Majesty of heaven and brightness of His Father's glory became poor so that through His poverty fallen humanity might be made rich, becoming a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who experienced insult, sorrow, poverty, cruelty and every human woe and temptation so He would know how to succor those who are tempted. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, with hands and feet lacerated with nails and side pierced, dying the cruelest of deaths hung between heaven and earth as a guilty sinner amid insult, mockery and torture of soul and body, with dreadful hours of agony that angels could not look upon, not merely agony of body but mental agony beyond comparison with the weight of the sins of the whole world upon Him. As Captain of salvation He was made a perfect Saviour through suffering, learning obedience by what He suffered, so humanity might have a perfect character fitted for the society of angels, and He died and rose again the third day and ascended to His Father to intercede for wayward, guilty man.

Law Honored Not Abolished

The law of God stands unalterable, just, changeless and worthy of honor, and cannot be set aside to accommodate human sin. The death of Christ proves the law could not be changed or abolished, for God would not have given His Son to die if the law could have been altered to save man. The law, the ten commandments, stands fast forever. By taking upon Himself the consequence that would otherwise have fallen on humanity and undertaking to ransom it from Satan's power, Christ became humanity's substitute and surety, bearing the curse and guilt brought by disobedience so fallen people could be redeemed. By humbling Himself He exalted man and became the stepping-stone to lift him up, so that by laying hold of the virtue of His blood man can keep God's law and be brought back to eat of the fruit of the tree of life forfeited by transgression.

By bearing the curse that should fall on sinners because of transgression, willingly as surety for the fallen race so people might escape eternal death, He upheld the sacred honor and binding claims of the Father's law and made its holiness clear. His death did not abolish the law, reduce or weaken its holy claims, or diminish its dignity. Instead, by suffering the law's penalty Himself He showed the law is just and unchanging, showed its penalty for transgression is just, magnified it and made it honorable. His mediatorial work preserves and fully vindicates the holiness and unchanging authority and nature of God's law. His mission was to expose sin as lawbreaking.

His mission was not to set the law aside but to bring people back to obedience to God's commandments, to loyalty, allegiance and service. He redeems humanity from the law's curse by obeying the law and paying in His death the penalty for disobedience. Those who accept the offered mercy and atonement are redeemed from the curse through a life of obedience, and salvation comes through obedience made possible by His merits. Through Him sinners are brought back to obedience, and people can keep God's law and be accepted through the Redeemer. The curse followed transgression, but God's promise of pardon gave hope, and those who repented, believed the promise and were saved enter that redemption.

His separation from the Father — the punishment for transgression — upheld the justice of God and showed God's law is unchanging. In Him the sacrificial types found their fulfillment as their true substance, and His sacrifice settled the controversy over the law's character. The law reveals sin and condemns the transgressor to punishment, but has no power in itself to pardon or redeem. It acts as a schoolmaster by driving sinners to Christ, who imparts His righteousness so they may be presented to the Father in His righteous character. His perfect obedience to the law and the law's standard of righteousness reveal God's character, and the glory seen on Moses' face was the righteousness of Christ in the law, seen to the end of that which was to be abolished when type met antitype in Jesus Christ. Treating redemption as proof the law has been abolished turns Christ into an offense and makes the law's standard a stumbling stone.

Righteousness Received by Faith

Christ satisfied the claims of the law by bearing its curse in the place of sinners and offering His life for them, and by that act brought in everlasting righteousness. That righteousness is received by faith and not by human righteousness of one's own. Following Him keeps people from walking in darkness, for to walk in the light as He is in the light is to trust in Him and hold fast to Him by faith.

In unspeakable exchange Christ the Blessing bore the curse and the Sinless One was condemned, so that guilty sinners who were cursed go free and are brought into blessing. The curse borne by the Blessing is turned into blessing. This righteousness justifies to eternal life by grace alone through faith, and the glory of salvation belongs solely to God.

He bore human sins that His righteousness might be imputed and that by His stripes healing might come, showing interest, love and pity for people in low estate sold into bondage through sin. He took the sins of the world upon Himself and was numbered with transgressors, bearing the curse and being treated as a transgressor and as sinners deserve, though He had no share in sin and never broke His Father's law. Condemned for sin in which He had no share, He clothes the repentant sinner with a righteousness in which the sinner had no part, so that sinners may receive His imputed righteousness and be justified. His blood paid for and bought people, and His perfection is offered in place of human sinfulness. Through repentance toward God and faith in His blood He imputes His righteous character, and obedience to God's law accompanies this salvation, while His perfect obedience in human nature shows that through Him people may obey God. His name alone can save the sinner from the law's condemnation, for without Him the transgressor remains under condemnation with no power in the law itself to pardon or redeem, and His blood does not atone for sin that remains unrepented and unconfessed. The sacrifices and offerings and the slain lamb pointed forward to and typified Him as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

His cross bore the curse due to the sinner, His sacrifice appeased the Father's wrath, His blood washed away impurity, and His death made atonement. Salvation comes solely from the free grace of God through the merits of Jesus alone to eternal life by faith, and man cannot save himself by ceremonies and good works. The mediation of saints, the ceremonies of the church, confession and penance are powerless to atone for sin or reconcile the soul with God. Without Christ as Intercessor the sinner stands without help before a holy and just Judge with only the blackness of eternal despair ahead. Faith in Him as found in the Bible gives peace and joy even amid torture and condemnation by the church, in contrast to despair and darkness while living in strictest obedience to the church.

To believe is to fully accept with personal faith for one's own salvation that Jesus died on Calvary's cross as sacrifice to redeem each person, becoming the curse by taking sins upon Himself and imputing His own righteousness. It is to claim Christ's righteousness as one's own righteousness, trusting He is Saviour and saves because He said He would and has offered the gift of everlasting life to those who believe on Him. It is done without working out explanations of how He saves and without any goodness in self to make better and cleanse from the spots and stains of sin, but by trusting and holding fast to Him while walking in the light as He is in the light.

Upon repentance pardon is procured through His merits, which is the sinner's only hope when standing charged with breaking God's law. Nothing but His grace can free the transgressor from bondage, and through that grace those obedient to God's commandments are made free. As Substitute on trial for transgressing God's law He redeemed the fallen race by being made sin and a curse for them, and the transgressor's only hope is to accept Him. This is the wondrous plan of salvation and the meaning of Christ as righteousness, and it matters far more to know whether one is justified or condemned by God's holy law than to argue over its precise particulars or the relation of the two laws. Entire justice was done in the atonement, with the spotless Son of God, though entirely innocent, submitting to be punished for disobedience and receiving the penalty in the sinner's place. In His own body He offered the antitypical sacrifice, paying the penalty and bearing the curse, so that no one who believes in Him should perish but have everlasting life. So the guilty sinner goes free and is looked upon as innocent as long as he receives and holds Christ as personal Saviour, shedding the lustre of an abundant vindication on the faithful, obedient child of God. The obedience and death of the Son showed God's character of holiness, goodness, compassion and love, with the cross giving the mightiest pledge of justice and love.

Salvation for the World

Christ suffered on the cross of Calvary as the Victim bearing the curse in place of sinners, giving Himself and shedding His blood as sacrifice and ransom for the race, for each person and for perishing sinners. Fallen sinners stand under the curse of the Father's law, and Jesus redeemed them by giving Himself to save the guilty from the penalty of transgressing God's law and to save the world from the curse of sin. His sacrifice is the ransom for the transgressor at a price too great to measure.

The plan of salvation was revealed to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, that the Son of God would come and bear their sin to redeem them from the curse of the law. The curse followed humanity's transgression of God's law, but God's promise of pardon through Christ gave hope to Adam and Eve, who repented, believed the promise, and were saved. Christ undertook to redeem humanity from the curse and disgrace brought by Adam's failure, bearing human guilt and the wrath that disobedience would otherwise have brought upon people for those who accept the offered mercy and atonement.

The sacrifices and offerings pointed forward to His sacrifice, and the slain lamb typified Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Death came by sin as transgression of the law, and the typical offerings unfolded their full significance as pointing to Christ the sin-pardoning Saviour and propitiation for man's sins, placing His perfection of character in man's behalf and taking the curse of the law upon Himself. When type met antitype in Jesus Christ, the glory that shone on the face of Moses was seen to be the righteousness of Christ in the law, to the end of that which was to be abolished, for without Christ the transgressor remains under the law's condemnation since the law can only condemn and has no power in itself to pardon or redeem.

His cross bears our curse, His blood washes away impurity, and His death atones, appeases God's wrath and satisfies the Father as the complete offering. Through Christ bearing the curse a fountain is opened to wash guilty souls clean, and His merits plead for every repentant sinner. Those in rebellion may be reconciled when they repent and accept Christ's atonement for their sins, so that sinners can be forgiven and reconciliation between God and humanity is made possible.

His victory opened the way of salvation for fallen humanity and secured the earth's redemption from the curse of sin, rescuing the world from the consequences of sin. Through this achievement the world under Satan's rule is brought back into connection with God's throne and restored to harmony with God and reunion with heaven. This redemption, grounded in the Bible's definition of sin as transgression of the law, applies to the call to keep God's commandments and prepare for Christ's coming.

It is only because the Redeemer bore the curse of sin on humanity's behalf that people can hope to escape bearing its dire results in their own person. The curse is misery, suffering and death as the sure and inevitable result of sin because all of God's laws were ordained to life, and God does not pardon sin unconditionally by setting aside justice. By bearing in His body the curse of sin and paying the penalty of the law through His humiliating death for the sins of the whole world, He placed happiness and immortality within the reach of all and made a probationary trial possible for every person.

Response and Renewed Life

Christ made a curse on the tree removes the curse and condemnation of the law from those who believe in him as personal Saviour, and his work also ends sin's controlling power and pollution in the heart. The believer is delivered through the Holy Spirit, whose work sanctifies, fits for heaven, and transforms into his character, with Christ's righteousness upon the believer, so that those who trust him may share the divine nature and escape the world's corruption. His humiliating death bore the sins of the whole world and paid the penalty of the law by his blood, making a probationary trial possible for every person.

Nothing but his grace can free the transgressor from bondage, and through that grace those obedient to God's commandments are made free. Upon repentance pardon is procured through his merits, which is the sinner's only hope, and this is the meaning of Christ as righteousness. He suffered the penalty of death in humanity's place to make it possible for people to obey God's law, and those who believe and obey receive eternal righteousness. Though he had no share in sin, the sins of the world were laid upon him and he was treated as sinners deserve, so sinners might receive his imputed righteousness and be justified, while his perfect obedience in human nature and life of perfect obedience developing a perfect character demonstrate what heavenly grace can do for human beings.

Man could not in his own behalf meet and overcome the prince of darkness, but Christ overcame him in man's behalf and broke his power, so that through his merits people may be overcomers in their own behalf. He laid aside crown and royal robe, clothed divinity with humanity to know its infirmities and temptations, and as Captain of salvation was made a perfect Saviour through suffering, learning obedience, that humanity might have a perfect character fitted for the society of angels. Everyone who receives him is given power to walk in righteousness and peace, for through his bearing the curse a fountain is opened to wash guilty souls clean and his merits plead for every repentant sinner. Looking to him lifted up on the shameful tree brings hope, courage, faith, pardon and life, and those wounded by the old serpent, the devil, are called to look to Christ and live.

His sacrifice as ransom for the transgressor is a price too great to measure, giving himself and shedding his blood, and it calls for the whole person — heart, mind, strength and possessions — to be devoted to God and the advancement of his kingdom. He took humanity's part and endured the curse and bitter sufferings brought by sin, taking human nature in its deteriorated condition and experiencing insult, sorrow, poverty and every human woe, and his humiliation for humanity's sake exposes human pride and self-sufficiency. Though innocent he chose humiliation and agony rather than leave humanity to perish, giving himself so people could be rescued from sin and gain everlasting life. His death was not for himself but for believers and the unjust, to bring people to God, and by taking their defiled condition he made it possible for them to be clothed in his righteousness; he was fastened to the accursed tree by spikes through hands and feet, and believers should not deny him by joining those who crucified him. Others may suffer persecution like he did, but they do not bear the law's curse as he did for the world.

His suffering proves the interest, love and pity of God for sinners in their low estate sold into bondage, and the love revealed at Calvary is that he withheld not his own life but gave himself to bring many sons and daughters to God. He bore our sins that his righteousness might be imputed to us, and by his stripes we are healed. By humbling himself he exalted man and became the stepping-stone to lift him up, so that by laying hold of the virtue of his blood man can keep God's law and be brought back to eat of the tree of life forfeited by transgression, for his death proves the law, the ten commandments, stands fast forever and could not be changed or abolished. He, the Majesty of heaven, came in the form of a servant as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, with hands and feet lacerated with nails and side pierced, dying amid insult, mockery and torture of soul and body at infinite cost, with the world's sins resting on him. He took human nature to show how people may form characters like God's, and it matters far more to know whether one is justified or condemned by God's holy law than to argue over its precise particulars.

He is the sin-bearer, substitute and surety though undeserving, taking the punishment deserved by sinners, and his sacrifice satisfies justice and vindicates the honor of God's law so that through faith sins are pardoned and people return to allegiance. He alone could redeem from the curse and bring back into harmony with heaven, since the broken law demanded the life of the sinner and only One equal with God could satisfy its claims, and moved with pity and infinite compassion he took guilt and shame to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race, a plan divine love conceived. He was made to uplift humanity degraded by sin and is the only hope of salvation. Faith in him found in the Bible gives peace and joy even amid torture and condemnation by the church, in contrast to despair and darkness while living in strictest obedience to the church, for ceremonies and good works, mediation of saints, ceremonies of the church, confession and penance are powerless to atone, and without him as Intercessor the sinner stands without help before a holy and just Judge with only blackness of eternal despair ahead. The path of transgression is misery and destruction exposed to the wrath of God and the Lamb, but God calls the disobedient to turn and live.