The Curse and the Blessing. Galatians 3:10-14 The law then condemns us because it exposes our sin and guilt. It actually brings a curse upon us because we cannot be justified by it. Everyone who fails to keep the law perfectly is cursed. The law doesn't justify anyone but condemns every one of us for sin. We are not saved by adding the law to the redemption price paid by our Lord Jesus Christ. He took that curse upon Himself because of our sinfulness and inability, so we could be justified before God. He was actually made a curse for us. The curse that was on everyone who hung on a tree was on our Savior when He hung on the cross. "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we are healed."
What the law demands, it cannot fulfill. Christ fully and completely met every requirement the law set forth. Those who are justified are made righteous through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He kept the law and fulfilled its demands entirely on our behalf. He is just and the one who justifies those who believe in Him. So, why would anyone try to do what is impossible? What reason is there to do what has already been accomplished?
Those who rely on self-effort, which the law is based on, cannot be saved. It is by grace that we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. Salvation comes from God alone as a gift to us, paid for by our Lord Jesus Christ. He gives salvation, which we cannot do or earn in any way.
The principles were correct—faith to worship and to love; but the law constrained them tightly with loveless rules. Ceremonies even have laws designed to teach, train, and inform people of what’s expected and right. The law as a teacher is useful. It leads us to Christ but cannot justify us because it cannot. It is words, but they can’t give us life. Laws govern daily conduct, “Live by the rules,” but life is fundamentally, culturally, and socially different once we become children of God. To maintain unity, peace, and order, we need the “teacher”—the law—to set and uphold boundaries in marriages, families, communities, and nations. We need the education laws provide to embed into everyone’s mind—the need for the teacher.
Many of the Galatians would have felt that they were under the curse of the law. How comforting it is for us to know that Christ became a curse for us when He died in our place on the cross. The redemption price was paid, freeing us from the judgment that rested on those who broke the law. Just as Abraham, who lived 430 years before the law was given, God expects us to live by faith. We are saved by grace through faith. We are justified by faith. We are sanctified by faith. Therefore, we are to live by faith, not by the sin-stained works of human effort. Not by adding anything to a finished work. The blessing that came to Abraham through faith is available to both Gentiles and Jews alike, also through faith.
A Person is here: alive, involved, interested, and committed – He is a Teacher. The objectives are the same: to teach us how to worship and love God. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. He awakens us to face our need for forgiveness and take ownership of our own guilt. How do we receive Him? Based on the works of the law or on a message that tells us the truth – a message to be received by faith? We began by receiving the Spirit, and He brought life.
There really is no excuse when those who should know better treat God's sacred things carelessly as if they are insignificant. It is a serious mistake to suggest that Christ did not do enough and to teach that our efforts are an addition to His work. When strangers appear to have the latest message, stop and listen to what they say about the Lord. Any negative words claiming we must add our small efforts to His work are false from the beginning. Don't listen to those who claim they have further revelations; they imply that mankind has a role in its own salvation. That is completely false teaching—salvation is by faith in Christ alone. No sin-filled human works can resolve our sin problem.
The Lord Jesus went to the cross for us; hanging there, He was made a curse for us, He who knew no sin. To think that His suffering was not enough is blasphemy or worse. A person who has been justified by faith now also lives by faith. The blessings that come to those God saves come from the storehouse of His grace. Christ has bought us with His own blood. He has purchased us by paying the ransom so that we can be free men and women who live by faith.