Galatians 3:13

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“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.”

Does this scripture declare that law keeping puts one under a curse? The question is best summarized as this: From what did Christ redeem us—the law itself, or the “curse of the law”?

The law’s curse is its penalty of death (Rom. 6:23). The laws in society against rape, murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and other offences are not curses. But everyone would agree that the penalties for breaking them—from fines, to jail, to long prison terms, to execution for capital offenses—certainly are a curse! Christ was made a “curse for us,” not because He kept the law perfectly for us, but because He suffered the death penalty for us (Heb. 2:9-10; John 3:16)! Law keeping is not a curse—but the penalty for sin certainly is.

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