Lecture 5 — Christ redeems from the law’s curse

^3:13^ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written: cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree). [n. 146]

^3:14^ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Christ Jesus: that we may receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. [n. 151]

146. Having explained the curse brought on by the law, as well as the law’s incapacity to deliver from sin, he now shows forth Christ’s power to set one free from this curse.

First, he shows how through Christ we are set free of that curse;

second, how in addition we receive help from Christ, at that the blessing of Abraham.

As to the first, he does three things.

First, he presents the author of the liberation;

second, the manner of liberation, at being made a curse for us;

third, the testimony of the prophets, at for it is written.

147. Therefore, he says first: all who observed the works of the law were under a curse, as has been said, and they could not be delivered by the law. Hence it was necessary to have someone who should set us free, and that someone was Christ. Hence he says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law: for what the law could not do . . . God, sending his own Son (Rom 8:3), i.e., Christ. He has redeemed, I say, us, namely, the Jews, with his own precious blood: you have redeemed us in your blood (Rev 5:9); fear not, for I have redeemed you (Isa 43:1), from the curse of the law, i.e., from guilt and penalty: that he might redeem those who were under the law (Gal 4:5); I will redeem them from death (Hos 13:14).

148. Then when he says, being made a curse for us, he sets forth the manner of the deliverance. Here it should be noted that a curse is that which is said as an evil. Now it is according to two kinds of evil that there can be two kinds of curse, namely, the curse of guilt and the curse of punishment. And with respect to each this passage can be read, namely, he was made a curse for us.

First of all with respect to the evil of guilt, for Christ redeemed us from the evil of guilt. Hence, just as in dying he redeemed us from death, so he redeemed us from the evil of guilt by being made a curse, i.e., of guilt; not that there was really any sin in him, for he did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth (1 Pet 2:22), but only according to the opinion of men and particularly the Jews who regarded him as a sinner: if he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to you (John 18:30). Hence it is said of him, him who knew no sin he has made sin for us (2 Cor 5:21).

But he says, a curse, and not accursed, to show that the Jews regarded him as the worst type of criminal. Hence it is said, this man is not of God who does not keep the sabbath (John 9:16) and not for a good work do we stone you, but for sin and for blasphemy (John 10:33).

Therefore he says, being made for us a curse in the abstract. As though to say: he was made curse itself.

149. Second, it is explained with respect to the evil of punishment. For Christ freed us from punishment by enduring our punishment and our death which came upon us from the very curse of sin. Therefore, inasmuch as he endured this curse of sin by dying for us, he is said to have been made a curse for us. This is similar to what is said in Romans: God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin (Rom 8:3), i.e., of mortal sin. Him who knew no sin, namely, Christ, who committed no sin, God (namely, the Father) has made sin for us (2 Cor 5:21), i.e., made him suffer the punishment of sin, namely, when he was offered for our sins.

150. Then he gives the testimony of Scripture when he says, for it is written: ‘cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ (Deut 21:23).

Here it should be noted, according to a Gloss, that in Deuteronomy, from which this passage is taken, our version as well as the Hebrew version has: cursed by God is everyone who hangs on a tree. However, the phrase by God is not found in the ancient Hebrew volumes. Hence it is believed to have been added by the Jews after the passion of Christ in order to defame him.

But it is possible to expound this authority both with respect to the evil of punishment and the evil of guilt. Of the evil of punishment thus: cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, not precisely because he hangs on a tree, but because of the guilt for which he hangs. And in this way Christ was thought to be cursed, when he hung on the cross, because he was being punished with an extraordinary punishment. And according to this explanation, there is a continuity with the preceding. For the Lord commanded in Deuteronomy that anyone who had hung on a tree should be taken down in the evening; the reason being that this punishment was more disgraceful and ignominious than any other. He is saying, therefore: truly was he made a curse for us, because the death of the cross which he endured is tantamount to a curse—thus explaining the evil of guilt, although it was only in the minds of the Jews—because it is written: ‘cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’.

But with respect to the evil of punishment, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree is explained thus: the punishment itself is a curse, namely, that he should die in this way. Explained in this way, he was truly cursed by God, because God decreed that he endure this punishment in order to set us free.

151. Then when he says, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Christ Jesus, he touches on the hope which we acquire through Christ in addition to being freed from the curse: not as the offense, so also the gift (Rom 5:16), but much greater, namely, because he both frees us from sin and confers grace.

First, therefore, he mentions the fruit and those to whom it is given, saying, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Christ Jesus. As if to say: he was made a curse for us not only to remove a curse but also to enable the gentiles, who were not under the curse of the law, to receive the blessing promised to Abraham: in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen 22:18). And this blessing was made to us, i.e., fulfilled, through Christ, who is of the seed of Abraham to whom the promises were made ’and to your seed’, which is Christ (Gal 3:16).

Now this blessing, this fruit, is that we may receive the promise of the Spirit, i.e., the promises which the Holy Spirit, given to us as a pledge and a deposit, works in us concerning eternal happiness which he promises to us (Eph 1:14; 2 Cor 6). Furthermore, in the pledge is contained a guarantee, for a pledge is an assured promise concerning something to be received: for you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons (Rom 8:15), and, and if sons, heirs also (Rom 8:17).

Or: that we may receive the promise of the Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit. As if to say: that we may receive the promise made to the seed of Abraham concerning the Holy Spirit: upon my servants I will pour forth my Spirit (Joel 2:29). For it is through the Spirit that we are joined to Christ and become children of Abraham, worthy of the blessing.

152. Second, he shows how this fruit comes to us, saying, by faith, through which also we obtain an eternal inheritance: he that comes to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him (Heb 11:6). Through faith, too, we receive the Holy Spirit, because as is said in Acts: the Lord gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him (Acts 5:32), namely, through faith.