The Curse and its Removal
Emilius Bayley, B. D. Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written… I. THE CURSE OF THE LAW IS OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. All are born under the law, and are bound to observe it. But all have broken it, and their guilt remains. There is no question of mercy here. Law, viewed in itself, knows no mercy. It pronounces a man righteous only on condition of perfect obedience. The chain is severed, though only one link be broken. The cable which joins two continents together, fails to convey the electric current if hut a single flaw exist in it. Every other part may be perfect; but one fault mars the whole. So with law. Thus all are under condemnation. II. THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW IS ANTAGONISTIC TO FAITH. The starting-point of the law is obedience. III. THE CURSE REMOVED. Christ not only died for our sins, but suffered that particular kind of death with which the law had specially connected the infliction of the curse, and so became a curse for us. 1. He who was to remove the curse must not be Himself liable to it. The Substitute for the guilty must Himself be innocent. 2. He who was to be the Substitute for all, must have the common nature of all. 3. He who was to do more than counterbalance the weight of the sins of all, must have infinite merits of His own, in order that the scale of Divine justice may preponderate in their favour. 4. In order that He may remove the curse pronounced in the law of God for disobedience, He must undergo that punishment which is specially declared in that law to be the curse of God. 5. That punishment is hanging on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:23). (Emilius Bayley, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them."