Were You Redeemed From the Curse of the Law?

[Russell Roberts]

I grew up repeating what I had heard. "I was redeemed from the curse of the law." But is this really true? Well, no, it isn't.

You see, God gave the law to the Jews through Moses at Mt. Sinai. It was similar to our Constitution. It was a law designed for one nation (the ethnic Jews) for a temporary period of time (between the time of Moses and Jesus). In this law, God set before the Jews the promise of blessings and curses. You can read about these in Deuteronomy 28-30.

In Deuteronomy, Moses predicted a sequence of events that would occur after his death. This verse pretty much sums it up.

Deu 30:1 "When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the LORD your God has banished you.

Notice that Moses said "when you have experienced all these things". This statement presumes that the Jews would experience 1) the blessings, 2) the curses, and that 3) God wouldl scatter the Jews into all the nations.

The ultimate curse was the curse of exile. Should the Jews continue in disobedience, the land would, in essence, vomit the people out of the land. And this is exactly what happened within history when the Assyrians conquered and exiled Israel (the northern kingdom) and when the Babylonians conquered and exiled Judah (the southern kingdom).

In essence, this was the curse of the law.

What is CRITICAL to understand is this. Though the Jews returned geographically to the land under Ezra and Nehemiah, they understood that they were STILL IN EXILE. Yes, sure enough, they had come back to the land but they were still in the state of exile. God had not yet forgiven their sins. The angel Gabriel explained this unusual aspect of the exile to Daniel in Chapter 7 in this verse.

Dan 9:24 "Seventy weeks have been determined
concerning your people and your holy city
to put an end to rebellion,
to bring sin to completion,
to atone for iniquity,
to bring in perpetual righteousness,
to seal up the prophetic vision,
and to anoint a most holy place.

In other words, exile would not last only seventy years, but seventy times seven years (490 Years)! THIS was the situation when Paul was born. He, and all the rest of the Jews were still under the curse of exile - the curse of the law.

From Paul's perspective, he could rightfully say that he was redeemed from the curse of the law. Exile continued until Jesus came to lead the new exodus movement OUT of exile. But we Christians were never under the law nor were we subject to the curse of the law. Make sense?

[ImaPK]

Sounds good to me but then I'm no "expert".

[MacUser]

Remember when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the mountain?
Peter wanted to build a monument to all three to honor them.

Remember what happened next? God had other plans.. and told Peter to only listen HIS SON (not Moses or Elijah any longer as they vanished)

The problem with Christians today is that they always resurrect Moses and/or Elijah (the 1,2,3 laws etc).. when the only standard we have today is Jesus. The ONLY righteous accepted will be Jesus.

If your image of God isn't Jesus. Your image of God is wrong.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

I know we know this.. but it's a good reminder to be free.

[oletimer]

Russell Roberts

But we Christians were never under the law nor were we subject to the curse of the law. Make sense?

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God put a curse on the ground and essentially was curse on man. Along with this was the curse that man would die. The Law would not come for serveral hundreds of years later. This is the same basic that Paul used with his argument of our faith relationship with Christ. What all man kind has in common was the Law of God which includes both Jew and gentile. The law of God has been in effect all ways. This is found in Ge 2:17
Ge 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Ro 7:22
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:


Ro 8:6
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Ro 8:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Ro 2:14
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Read the whole chapter, its good reading.

[Russell Roberts]

Oletimer, I would point out several aspects about the verses you quoted and some you didn't. Your point about the commandment in the Garden of Eden is a good one. I believe that this is where Paul was deriving some of his lessons about the Torah. Yes, creation continues to be under a curse. But not 'the curse of the law' as Paul phrased it in Galatians. I believe that Pauls reference to the gentiles in chapter 2 refers to Christian converts who were not and will never be under the Torah.

In Romans 7, Paul is explaining the historical position of Jews under Torah. As a former Jew, Paul had, in fact, been under the law and in this case could easily subsitute "I" for the experience of the typical Israelite. That law had been a gift from God and Paul wanted to affirm so. The problem, it seems, was not the Torah OR the ego "I" but SIN. At the beginning of chapter 8 Paul explains that God dealt with the true culprit on the cross.

Basically, Jesus lured sin into his flesh on the cross and God condemned it.

I would add that in Chapter 2 (if memory serves me correct), Paul refers to those 'apart from the law', a reference to Gentiles. What Paul is doing is he is forming an argument to show that all of humanity stands under the guilt of sin. He begins in Chapter 1 with the pagan. He continues in chapter 2 with the moralist and in chapter 3 he gets to the real target - the Jews. Note that Paul says that the law speaks to those who are 'under the law'. He is referring to ethnic Jews.

You see, the Jews boasted in their possession of Torah without realizing that the Torah condemned them. The very thing that they clung to as shelter against condemnation, condemned them declaring that no man is just, no one seeks after God, etc.