Purposes of Christ's Death: Galatians 3:13-14

This is yet another repost from the Purposes of Christ’s Death series. You can find the other posts from this series by clicking on the purposes of Christ’s death label at the end of this post.

In this post in the series looking at the explicit purpose statements for Christ’s death found in scripture, let’s consider Galations 3:13-14:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. (NET)

The purpose statement found here for Christ’s death—or for Christ becoming a curse for us—is “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.”

What exactly does it mean when it refers to the blessing of Abraham? We can find the answer in the text just prior to these verses:

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” (v. 8)

God promised Abraham that through his lineage blessing would come to the Gentiles. Verse 14 tells us that the promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed in him was the promise of the coming of the Spirit to those of faith.

The law, which contained promised blessing to those who kept it, also contained a curse for all those who didn’t keep it, and so it became a universal curse upon mankind, for there was no one (except Christ himself, of course) who kept the law. All human beings, both Jew and Gentile, find themselves with a curse hanging over them because of their disobedience to the demands of the law. In Christ’s death on the cross, he bore the curse of the law that we earned for ourselves by not keeping the law.

This is one of the clearest references in scripture to the substitutionary nature of Christ’s death. Christ’s death accomplished what it did because He became a curse for us. This text calls Christ’s vicarious bearing of our curse an act of redemption for us.

These two verses are set within the context of Paul’s contrast of the Spirit over against the law. While everyone has earned the curse of the law, those in Christ Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, receive the blessing promised to Abraham instead when they receive the Spirit by faith.

In these verses we see that one of the purposes of Christ’s death was the fulfilling of the promise to Abraham that the nations would be blessed in him, and this promise was fulfilled in the coming of the Spirit through faith, and this coming of the Spirit is grounded in Christ’s bearing of the law’s curse in our place.

Who are made partakers of redemption through Christ?

Redemption is certainly applied, and effectually communicated, to all those for whom Christ hath purchased it;[1] who are in time by the Holy Ghost enabled to believe in Christ according to the gospel.[2]

1. Eph. 1:13-14

   In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

   
   John 6:37, 39

   All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

   And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

   
   John 10:15-16

   …just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

   And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

2. Eph. 2:8

   For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God …

   II Cor. 4:13

   So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self  is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 59

Easter Week Reading and Listening

I’ve linked to these in the sidebar section A Few Good Reads,  but they are too important to take the chance that you’ll miss them there.

• I recommend that you set aside a bit of time this week to listen to D. A. Carson’s sermon, The Ironies of the Cross.
• Don’t miss the collection of testimonies to the resurrection power of the new life at Challies.com.

Do you have other recommended reading or listening for this week?