Bible Synapse
Are those who rely on the law under a curse, or only those who break it?
Hard question · Salvation and the Christian life · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
“As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse”, for everyone who does not continue in all things written in the law is cursed; Christ redeemed us from that curse.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
“Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.”
Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.
The objection
Paul says that “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse”. But Deuteronomy curses the man who does not keep the law, not the man who does. Paul seems to turn Moses upside down and curse the very people who obey.
The answer
Paul is not contradicting Deuteronomy 27:26; he is quoting it as the reason for what he says. His argument runs: the law pronounces a curse on everyone who fails to keep all of it; no one keeps all of it (compare “there is none righteous”, Romans 3:10); so everyone who relies on law-keeping for his standing with God falls under the curse it pronounces. The phrase “of the works of the law” (ex ergōn nomou) does not mean ‘people who obey God’. It means people whose hope of being right with God rests on their own performance of the law, as some in Galatia were being taught (Galatians 2:16; 5:3-4). The curse falls on them not for obeying but because they do not and cannot obey perfectly, “for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
Paul goes straight on to the remedy: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). So Moses and Paul agree that the law curses those who break it. Paul adds that, because all have broken it, the only escape from the curse is through faith in Christ, who bore it.
From the classic commentators
It should be observed, that the word "all" is not in the Hebrew text, in Deuteronomy 27:26 , but is manifestly implied, an indefinite proposition being equal to an universal one; and agreeably to the true sense of the words, it is inserted by the apostle here, as it is in the Septuagint and Samaritan versions thereJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Galatians 3 (1746–1763)