Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
I am a lawbreaker! I admit it. I have gone over the speed limit on numerous occasions, both here in the United States and in several foreign countries. That was me, just in case I passed you in a flash.
But I suspect that you too have an imperfect record when it comes to keeping the rules. We all do. The rules you break might be different from the ones I break, but breaking rules is universal. Even monks in monasteries go to confession. You can’t run far enough to outrun the rules.
But there are some people, even some living today, who think that ‘keeping the rules’ is the gold standard for anyone who wants to be on the good side of God. And the better you are at keeping the rules, the closer you are to God, the more God likes you, the more you deserve to have His favor. But this doesn’t work for God and it won’t work for us.
I our text today we hear the central point of this whole letter. There were those whose following of the rules had become their religion. And they wanted to impose their rule-following ways on everyone, including the new Christians in the city of Galatia. Paul was having none of it!
Paul’s language might seem a bit strange to us. This idea of being under a curse is foreign to us, or it has some occult overtones, Voodoo and witchcraft kind of stuff. But this isn’t at all what Paul has in mind.
Remember, Paul’s culture and our culture is very different. His categories of definitions is different from ours. His use of the word ‘curse’ has a very different cultural and religious context to it that is foreign to most of us.
Paul was a trained Jewish scholar, raised and trained under the strictest of behavioral standards. His mind was saturated with the words, themes, stories and paradigms of ancient Israel. He breathed and slept the Hebrew Bible. So why is that important to know?
The idea of being under a curse comes straight out of the Hebrew Bible. One example should help us bridge the gap between then and now when it comes to understanding a curse in the way Paul understood it.
As the Israelites were getting ready to enter the Promised Land after the deliverance from Egyptian slavery, Moses is having his final talk with all the people. He gives them a choice: serve the LORD or don’t serve Him. And then he lays out what each choice would look like for those who follow each course of action.
Those who choose to not follow the LORD, those consequences are called curses. It is the result of choosing to be outside of God blessing and protection. The world is a harsh place, and if you take yourself out of God’s group, then the consequences of that choice will yield certain results, none of them good.
Like trying to stay dry on a cold, rainy day without an umbrella or raincoat will crossing town on foot, so it is when someone chooses to reject God’s protection, there are natural consequences. They get wet. And this is the story of the whole Bible. God offers blessing, protection from the consequences of a harsh world. He gives us the choice to accept that protection or to reject it.
When we try to earn God’s favor through the things that we do, we are removing ourselves from God’s protection and provision and choosing to be under the curse. This is the curse Paul speaks about here in our text. Being cursed is not so much an active action on God’s part, but the removal of oneself from the protection He has already provided.
The Arnold Journey 