Objection: Galatians 3:13 Means That Christ Redeemed Us from the Law, Which Was a Curse, Not the “Curse” in Deuteronomy 28

According to this objection, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law” means that He redeemed us from the Law itself, which was (supposedly) a curse, as opposed to the curse contained IN the Law that would come on those who broke it.

God Says That His Law is Good, Not a Curse

God certainly does not share the objector’s dim view of His Old Testament Law, and neither should you:

Romans 7:12:
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Romans 7:16:
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Psalm 119:72:
The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

God never refers to His Law as a curse.  If it’s good, it can’t be a curse!  To say that the Law was a curse is to say that part of the Word of God is a curse!  How can God’s holy, pure word be a curse?  That doesn’t make sense.

No, the Old Testament Law was good; we just have something better.  Galatians 3:13 cannot possibly say that we today were redeemed from the “cursed” Law itself because neither the Galatians or any other Gentiles were ever under the Law of Moses to begin with!  However, Jews and Gentiles alike are redeemed from the specific curses for disobedience mentioned in the Law.

The Context of Galatians 3:13 Proves That It Does Not Refer to the Law Itself

Now let’s consider the immediate context of Galatians 3:13.  This passage starts out with the following statement in verse 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 continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”  Observe carefully what Paul did and did not say here.  He definitely did not say, “The Law is a curse; it’s a curse to be under it” as the objector might think.  No, his point is that if you are “of the works of the Law” – seeking to be justified only by your own good works – you put yourself under the curse because you do not “continue to do all things that are written in it.”  You have broken the Law and so has everyone else, so you need to be redeemed.  Only shed innocent blood atones for sin – never good works.  If you don’t accept redemption, you are still under a curse for sinning.  It took Jesus’ innocent blood to pay for our sins forever so that the curse would not have to come upon us.  As Paul explains, Jesus was punished in our place to serve our just punishment for falling short of God’s standard.  He was cursed for us!  He was “made sick” (Isaiah 53:10) – sickness was part of that curse.  He had to take the parts of the curse that He could in our place to legally redeem us from those.  He redeemed us from the rest of the curse by being cursed in general.  Now that our sin has been punished with the Law-threatened curses, that sin doesn’t have to be punished a second time when we believe in the One who “became sin” and was punished accordingly.  So you don’t need to be punished with the curse of sickness and pain for your sin, because Jesus already was cursed with sickness and pain for your sin when He was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).

The other giveaway of Paul’s meaning is his use of the closing verse of Deuteronomy 27 – the verse immediately before the blessing and curses of Deuteronomy 28.  Deuteronomy 27:26 says, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.”  In verse 10, Paul deliberately echoes that statement that was made immediately before the blessings and curses: “…as it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”  So this is also definite proof that Paul referred to the curse contained in the Law that was the punishment for not doing the whole Law.  The same Paul who told the Romans that the Law was holy and just and good did not contradict himself by telling the Galatians that the Law was a curse.  If he had meant that, he would have introduced an internal contradiction into God’s Word and spoiled it!