Galatians 3:13
13 Christ [Christos] hath redeemed [exagorazo] us [hemas] from [ek] the curse [katara] of the
law, [nomos] being made [ginomai] a curse [katara] for [huper] us: [hemon] for [gar] it is written, [grapho]
Cursed [epikataratos] is every one [pas] that hangeth [kremannumi]
on [epi] a tree: [xulon] KJV-Interlinear
13 Christ 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" — NASB
This quote is from Deut. 21:23. The curse is the condemnation made by the
Law, in which no person can keep those commandments and requirements of the
Law, and are thus condemned forever.
Redeem, ‘exagorazo,’ means to make a purchase. This is a general purchase of any kind, but
when associated with people it is a purchase of humanity out of bondage or out
of slavery. Otherwise people do not get
purchased, or are not traded in the general economic sense of good or services.
Since humanity is under a curse, then no slave can
purchase himself out of slavery, especially since the purchase price is far,
far, far beyond anything a person will ever have or obtain in their entire
lifetime and beyond.
That means that another free person, who is
extremely wealthy, has to be the one who will make that purchase in behalf of
the slaves.
And since humanity is made up of trillions of
people counting every person throughout all of human history, then that free
person has to be extremely wealthy and extremely resourceful.
Only God fits into that category.
Now, Jesus came into this world and lived the
perfect life. But His perfect life
lived, did not fulfill the purchase price.
That just proved that He was the perfect candidate for making that
purchase. He was perfect, not condemned,
not a slave, and thus qualified to make the purchase.
So, Christ had to go to the cross, and thus become
associated with the curse, and then take on the penalty of that curse. This He did during those three hours on the
Cross from noon until three in the afternoon.
He was alive during that time period and screamed
allowed during that time. He was
engulfed in complete darkness during that time, for it was the darkest time in
all of history. That was the period of
His judgment wherein He took upon Himself all of the sins of humanity and
received the punishment for them all.
Jesus was very much alive when He received that
judgment.
Then afterwards, He died his physical death, so
that He would be resurrected thus proving His victory over death, making that
victory secure and permanent. Jesus did
not bleed to death, He merely exhaled and died.
Likewise, in Deut. 21, anyone hung, had to be taken
down and buried before dark. And of course Jesus was taken down and buried that
same afternoon.
The concept of works, is a curse which led to the
destruction of all of humanity. Jesus died
His spiritual death, for that curse to be lifted and removed. That paid the high price of freedom for all
of humanity.
But just as slaves on the auction block when bought
can go to their freedom or they can choose to remain in slavery, so too, every
human being can choose to believe in Christ, which is their choice for freedom,
or they can choose to remain under the curse by rejecting Christ.
To pursue works as your mode or spiritual
advancement is a fools choice. Christ
has already done the work. For salvation, you only have to accept that by
believing in Christ.
Likewise, after salvation when spiritual growth is
the issue in your life, then again works is again the fools choice, when all that
is required of you is to study and listen and learn while in fellowship, and
then do that every day of your life.
This is faith, not works.
Just as faith is a huge stumbling block for many
people in salvation, so too, faith is a huge stumbling block for most believers
in their spiritual growth. They pursue
works rather than faith and they do not grow up.
And what exactly is works in the spiritual
life? Human works that is? It is everything that is not complying with
pursuit of a daily study, while in fellowship, receiving instruction from a legitimate
teaching source, and following that pattern every day of your life.
Reading the bible every day is not a daily study,
unless you are reading in order to supplement and review your daily study.
Talking or texting with a spiritual vocabulary is
not an application of a daily study. God
looks into your soul and sees your words.
Impressing people is not an element of spiritual advancement. God looks
to the content of your soul, not to your public sales abilities.
You can know easily, if you are on the right track
in your spiritual life, or not.
Do you pursue a daily study, repeat daily, under
the instruction of an instructor, and use that as your primary focus for
learning and knowing doctrine?
If your answer is no, then you must have a better
way, which is works, which is returning to the curse and thus failure in your
spiritual life. And to figure out your
own life is just that easy.
So what is the answer to your self test?
