Chizuk Emunah (Pt 2) Under the Microscope: Chapter 89

Galatians 3:13, Paul says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree." It is a most extraordinary conclusion, that an ignominious death, suffered by Jesus, should have become the means of releasing his followers from their adherence to the ancient law of God, in order not to be subjected to the curse of the law. Surely submission to, and not abandonment of the law, should have been recommended.

 As Paul writes elsewhere:

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

That's the quick answer. The punishment for failing to obey the law is death. Jesus overcame death and brought resurrection to all to repent and trust him.

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil." (Deuteronomy 30:15)

This is the requirement of the law. The error comes when one interprets "curse of the law" to mean that the law is a curse. It is not a curse, but it can curse people for disobedience. This is acknowledged in popular Jewish culture. As Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof "Couldn't you have chosen somebody else?" meaning that to be part of God's chosen people means to undergo an exceptional level of suffering. It can be a blessing, and can be a curse as well.

But what if the bad half could be removed? What if Deuteronomy 28 were changed so that you would receive the blessings for obedience, but would be shielded from the curses for disobedience? This is what Paul is saying.

As N.T. Wright says in Paul and the Faithfulness of God, the people of Second Temple Judaism were in a predicament. The Torah was supposed to be a good thing. It was a gift from God to the Jewish people alone. Yet, for the majority of Jewish history, Israel had been experiencing far more of the curses than the blessings. It is as though the Jews were saying "this Torah is supposed to be good, but all it seems to do is curse us for unrighteousness."

Messiah came to end the curse. As A. Lukyn Williams writes: Exodus gives us numerous examples of redepmtion, such as the redemption of the firstborn animal, or of the firstborn son. This does not make the redeemed person exempt from following the Law. It does not make the person exempt.

It is also popular to say that Paul misquoted Deuteronomy by quoting Rashi's interpretation. Waht they fail to realize is that while Rashi states that anyone hanged on a tree is an insult to God, the Ramban disagrees and states that anyone hanged on a tree is cursed by God.

As an aside, this is another reason why the disciples of Jesus would not have tried to steal the body or fake their master's resurrection. A crucifixion is close enough to the Jewish punishment of being hanged on a tree that any observant Jew would have drawn a connection between the two. In their minds, and in the mind of James, and in Paul's mind before his conversion, Jesus was a failed preacher, and his crucifixion was the proof that he did not have God's approval. It took a miracle of biblical proportions to change their beliefs.