By
the Law comes the Curse
So the Law was brought in so that
the curse could be pronounced on the Law breaker. In God’s grace, under Law, He
provided the sacrifices and priesthood to deal with any infractions committed.
Nevertheless, “For as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all
things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” (Gal. 3:10)
The curse of the Law is more clearly defined in Deuteronomy 28, but see also
Leviticus 26. “But it shall come to pass,
if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His
commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses
will come upon you and overtake you”.
“Cursed shall be your
basket and your kneading bowl.
“Cursed shall be the
fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle
and the offspring of your flocks.
“Cursed shall you be
when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out”. (Deut. 28:15-19)
From the application of these
passages arose the practice of giving up habitual offenders to a ‘cherem’ or
curse. The Jews expressed it as giving them up to Satan. These obdurate
law-breakers would lose the protection that God provided for His people. They
would, like Job, be exposed to the activity of Satan, and could suffer a
similar fate to Job. An offender who resisted correction and exhausted all
remedy contained in the Law would become ‘a curse among his people’. Jesus was brought face to face with some such
individuals: a paralytic:[1]
a woman who washed His feet with her tears. (she is described as a sinner).[2]
To both of these Jesus said, “your sins
are forgiven you”. The paralytic was also healed. A similar case to the
paralytic was the disabled woman who was bent over, and could not stand up
straight. The cause of this infirmity was identified by the Messiah: “… ought not this woman, being a daughter of
Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this
bond on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13.16) In forgiving their sins, healing their
bodies and delivering them from Satan, Jesus was clearly anticipating the full
benefit of His sacrificial death. This multi-layered act of redemption can only
be explained by the fact that, among other things, they were delivered from the
curse of the law.
But what happened at Calvary to make this sophisticated act of redemption
possible? How were they, and indeed us, delivered from the curse of the Law? The
answer is - by the act of substitution. Christ was pronounced ‘cherem’ instead
of us. Paul writes, “Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is
written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), (Gal. 3:13)
The
Crucified Christ deals with the curse of the Law
Here then, is one reason, why the
death of the Messiah had to be by crucifixion. A ‘cursed’ Messiah, might be
despised by the Jewish people, but nevertheless was absolutely necessary for
them. The Jewish people were under the ‘curse of the Law’ because they could
not keep it. R. Levi said if they could only keep the Sabbath fully for one
day, then Messiah would come.[3]
But they could not perfectly keep the Law, even for only one day. The wider
application of the curse also applies.
The argument is, that if the Jews could not keep it, and they had every
advantage, there is no way the Gentiles could have escaped the curse. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it
says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
(Rom. 3:19) Paul was very clear. He said that returning to the Mosaic covenant
only led to bondage, the curse and death. “For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in
all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Gal. 3:10 cf. Deut.27.26) No-one is
justified by the Law,[4]
for ‘there is none righteous, no not one’. (Rom.3.10)
More Next Time
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