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Ambassador Baptist Church
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Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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   You Are Here: Bridge / Galley / Pastor's Pen / Pathways through Paul, Vol 2
Pathways through Paul, Vol 2 Daily Devotional
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Pathways Through Paul, Vol 2
Daily Devotional

January 25
Click on verses for Full Scripture
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Today's Pathway:


 Galatians 3:13
  1. 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:

His Majesty's Service

 We saw back in verse 10 that the Law brought a curse upon every one who did not obey it 100% of the time for the duration of his or her life. In verse 13 Paul writes that believers have been "redeemed" from the curse of the law. The root word translated "redeemed" means "to purchase in a market place, to set free from the slave market by paying a ransom" This word is actually intensified by a prefix, and means "to purchase out of the market place and remove from sale, never to be sold again". In the Old Testament the term "redeem" would have been used for getting someone out of debt (Leviticus 25:25-28), out of captivity (Exodus 6:6), or out of slavery (Leviticus 25:47-55). All of these picture the situation where the unsaved man finds himself. He has a sin debt that he can not possibly pay (Matthew 18:23-32) , he has been taken captive by sin (II Timothy 2:26), as is a servant of sin (Romans 6:17). But Christ paid the price for the sins of the world when He shed His blood on the cross. He paid what was necessary to buy us back from our lost condition, and through faith in Him we can be redeemed.

 The next expression in verse 13 is amazing. It says that Jesus was "made a curse for us". Jesus removed our curse by being cursed Himself. How did this happen, since Jesus committed no sin and therefore could not be cursed based upon His own actions? I believe there are several aspects to this statement. First, the most obvious one is that Jesus took our sins upon Himself on the cross. II Corinthians 5:21 states that God "made Him to be sin for us". Isaiah 53:6 says that "LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." The curse that man deserved for breaking the law of God was placed upon Jesus on the cross. Second, Paul refers to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, which says,

"And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;)."
Jesus died in such a manner as if He were accursed. Isaiah 53:12 indicates that even though Jesus was not a transgressor, he was "numbered with the transgressors". He was treated in His death as if he were a criminal. Robert Jamieson wrote,
"Having put malefactors to death, in order to brand them with peculiar ignominy, they Jews hung their bodies on a tree, and those malefactors were accursed by the law. God's providence ordered it so that to fulfil the prophecy of the curse, Jesus should be crucified, and then hang on the tree."
David Guzik added,
"In the thinking of ancient Israel, there was something worse than being put to death, and that was to have your corpse left in the open, exposed to shame, humiliation, and scavenging animals. However, if anyone was executed and deemed worthy of such disgrace, the humiliation must not be excessive. Deuteronomy 21:23 says 'his body shall not remain overnight on the tree.' Significantly, Jesus fulfilled this also, being taken down from the cross before night had fully come."
Finally, I think that Galatians 3:13 may indicate that being hung on a tree was a curse in and of itself. The Pulpit Commentary makes this observation:
"The context shows that Jesus became a curse simply by hanging upon a tree. It was simply the suspension upon a cross that imparted to Him, in the eye of the Law, this character of accursedness, of extreme abhorrent defilement."
In other words, Christ was not cursed for anything that He did, but for what we did, and for the method by which He was executed by others. What an amazing Savior we have, that the sinless Son of God would endure all these things for us!

Pastor Mark J Montgomery

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His Majesty's Service
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1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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