THE CURSE OF THE LAW

The writings of Paul are hard to understand. God will decide when these writings can be understood.

2Pe 3:15  and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,

2Pe 3:16  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

It’s easy to twist this chapter to say that there is a curse for keeping God’s law, but a careful examination will give God’s meaning.

We are deceived, if we don’t obey the truth. God’s law is truth.

Gal 3:1  O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

Psa 119:142  Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.

Paul asks a question; it is answered in verse 3. God’s Spirit comes by the hearing of faith. We must repent, believe, love, and obey God.

Gal 3:12  Yet the law is not of faith, but “THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”

Act 2:38  Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Physical obedience of itself does not lead to eternal life. When we receive God’s Spirit; we must not go back to relying on physical obedience.

Gal 3:3  Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Our suffering for God will be in vain, if we go back to relying on the physical.

Gal 3:4  Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

2Ti 3:12  Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

God’s people will do miracles by faith, not by works. Samson, with his great strength, did miracles through faith.

Gal 3:5  Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Heb 11:32  And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:

Heb 11:33  who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Abraham was accounted righteous because he believed, and obeyed God.

Gal 3:6  just as Abraham “BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

God’s people will live by faith.

Gal 3:7  Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

Gal 3:8  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

Gal 3:9  So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

The above verses show that we cannot come to God without faith. The following verses show that we must also keep God’s law; both physically and spiritually.

There is a curse for disobedience to God’s law, and a blessing for keeping the law. This, of itself, is the old covenant, which promises great physical blessings for physically keeping God’s commandments, and a terrible punishment for disobedience to the law. The curse is for disobedience to God’s law; that is made plain in Deut. 11 v 28.

Gal 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.”

Deu 11:26  “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:

Deu 11:27  the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;

Deu 11:28  and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

Physically keeping the Ten Commandments is not faith.

Gal 3:11  But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Gal 3:12  Yet the law is not of faith, but “THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”

True faith establishes the law. We cannot be converted if we are a liar, or a murderer [or breaking any of the Ten Commandments.] We can physically keep the commandments, and not be of faith. True faith is keeping God’s commandments physically, as well as spiritually.

Mat 5:27  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.’

Mat 5:28  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Rom 3:28  Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Rom 3:29  Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,

Rom 3:30  since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Rom 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

True faith is the new covenant.

Heb 10:16  “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,”

Faith and works are required; not just faith.

Jas 2:24  You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Doing good is an absolute necessity if we want God to justify us.

The penalty [curse] for disobedience to God’s law is eternal death: Christ paid the penalty for us.

Gal 3:13  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”),

The blessing spoken of here is the birth of Christ.

Gal 3:14  that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Gal 3:15  Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “AND TO YOUR SEED,” who is Christ.

The covenant with Abraham confirms that Christ would be born of Abraham’s seed. The following verse is translated slightly incorrectly. The law mentioned is the law of added ordnances.

Gal 3:17  And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.

Gal 3:18  For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The added law of ordnances pointed to the arrival of Christ. The ancient Israelites could not keep the old covenant. The ordnances, added to the law were done away with the death of Christ.

Gal 3:19  What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

Lev 7:37  This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering,

Col 2:14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Col 2:20  Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations

Col 2:21  “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

Col 2:22  which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

The angel in the next verse is Christ. The mediator is Joshua, who is of the tribe of Joseph.

Gal 3:19  What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

The statutes were ordained in the tribe of Joseph, per Joshua.

Psa 81:4  For this is a statute for Israel, A law of the God of Jacob.

Psa 81:5  This He established in Joseph as a testimony, When He went throughout the land of Egypt, Where I heard a language I did not understand.

These two verses need to be read very carefully: The prophet like Moses is Joshua.

Act 7:37  “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN. HIM YOU SHALL HEAR.’

Act 7:38  “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,

Jos 1:5  No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.

When God the Father was giving the Ten Commandments to Moses: Christ was giving the ordnances to Joshua and the elders.

Exo 24:9  Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

Exo 24:10  and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.

Exo 24:11  But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Exo 24:12  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

Exo 24:13  So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

The following verses confirm the above scriptures.

Gal 3:20  Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Gal 3:21  Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

Gal 3:22  But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

Gal 3:24  Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Gal 3:25  But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Gal 3:26  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Gal 3:29  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Everyone knows that the nine Commandments must be kept, but most people ignore the Sabbath. Read the following verses carefully. The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people forever.

Exo 31:15  Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Exo 31:16  Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

Exo 31:17  It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”

A converted person must believe, obey, and love God. God’s Ten Commandments must be kept physically and spiritually. The added ordinances [sin offerings etc.] were added because of Israel’s transgressions. These ordnances were done away with at the crucifixion of Christ. The handwriting of ordinances could never give eternal life. That was not God’s judgments and statutes.

Col 2:14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Eze 44:24  In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.

God’s law was not done away, look at the last chapter in the Bible.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

The curse of the law is eternal death for not keeping God’s law [the Ten Commandments] physically, and spiritually.