Defeat Death – Key Verses – Galatians (NIV)
Defeat Death – Key Verses – Galatians (NIV)
The previous key verse, 3:11, and these all go together. I only grouped some because I believe they apply well on their own but that’s mostly due to the context, as always.
3:12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
He is quoting Leviticus 18 here where the Lord is giving the Law to Moses. He’s telling Moses that the people must not do as the previous people in Canaan did. They aren’t to follow their practices. So He’s giving them instructions, decrees and laws. And the ones who follow them, will live.
The standard (obeying all the laws) is perfection. The way to live by the law is to be perfect. The way to live in Christ is faith. Paul is drawing the clear contrast.
3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
Despite Christ’s perfect obedience, He took on our curse by dying for us.
3:14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
God told Abraham all nations would be blessed through him. He also established the route to righteousness with Abraham in that he believed and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Faith to righteousness was set. Later the Law was added but not for the salvation of the individual.
3:15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
It’s almost like God established the route to salvation, faith, then the means, Law, and object of faith later: Christ. Adding the Law didn’t remove the route.
People were told it is by faith we will live. And given the Law which should prove we can’t be perfect. So how can the perfect life be lived and become the object of our faith? We can’t do it. Only someone perfect. Only God, Himself. So that’s what He did.
I’ve wondered a lot about the "cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." I believe that was a practice demonstrating condemned people. So it’s almost like when someone broke God’s law, they were judged, killed and publicly displayed. Hanging them on the pole was to show that they were disobedient to God and displayed as judged and cursed according to God’s perfection. That person was then associated with all others who were judged by God.
But it also maybe was like a technicality in that when Jesus was hung and displayed on a pole, He was established as cursed. He was then associated with all judged by God. But given His perfect life, it was unjustified and He could defeat death.