The Blessing of Abraham and Redemption From the Curse (Continued) (Galatians 3:1–14)

“Those of faith”—having a disposition of spirit the same as Abraham had, a disposition of faith in hope beyond hope—constitute properly the tribe promised to him, are his children according to the promise. Abraham was promised countless descendants. And so they were. But not mere fleshly descent from Abraham makes one his descendant, but especially this: to be of the same spirit as he; so that even fleshly descendants who do not have this spirit are not descendants, as the Lord said directly to the Jews (Jn 8:39); on the contrary, those who are not fleshly descendants but are full of this spirit are the descendants. Holy Damascene writes: “the Gentiles who have believed should boast in Abraham as their father by faith more than those who are of circumcision. Faith made Abraham God’s friend, not circumcision. Circumcision was already the seal and sign of faith. But a sign is less than that which it signifies; so that those of faith with greater right must be called children of Abraham than those of circumcision”.

Jerome explains this more fully and completely. “The Apostle says here that those are children of Abraham who believe in the same spirit in which the uncircumcised Abraham believed. Why the Lord also said to the unbelieving Jews: ‘if you were children of Abraham, you would be doing the works of Abraham’ (Jn 8:39). What works did the Lord expect from them besides faith, since He had said to them before: ‘believe in the one whom God has sent’ (Jn 6:29)? And in another place to Jews who hoped in their descent and the antiquity of their race, it was said: ‘and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham’ (Mt 3:9). By stones, as no one will doubt, are meant the wild and rough hearts of the Gentiles, who were then softened and received the seal of faith. So, prudent reader, enumerate the virtues by which Abraham pleased God before circumcision, and whomever you find similar to him in this, call him a child of Abraham, justified in uncircumcision”.

Gal 3:8. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed through you.

According to this law of God’s righteousness, which determined the only thing of value in God’s eyes—the spiritual kinship of Abraham—was also confirmed that promise to Abraham, that all peoples would be blessed through him. God foresaw (for by Scripture foreseeing, God who gives Scripture is meant) how the Gentiles, separated from the people of God and living without being subject to the Law, would believe in Christ the Lord who was to be born in the flesh from Abraham, and through this would enter into spiritual kinship with Abraham and come under the streams of blessing that rested upon Abraham; He foresaw all this and spoke that promise, that all peoples would be blessed through him.

“To you” – either because of the resemblance to you through faith (St. Chrysostom, Ecumenius, St. Cyril of Alexandria), or to you, because of the seed that was to come from you, that is, Christ (the same, blessed Jerome, and others). The Apostle does not intend here to settle this precisely. He does this later (in verses 15–16). There is no need to dwell on it. The chief point with the Apostle here is to impress the conviction that believers, apart from the Law, by the power of faith alone, are already Abraham’s and are included in the promise given to Abraham. “What does this mean (that is, the words spoken)?” asks St. Chrysostom. And he replies: “that the Lawgiver Himself, before He gave the Law, determined that the Gentiles should be justified through faith. And He did not say ‘revealed’, but ‘proclaimed the gospel’, – so that you might know that the Patriarch himself rejoiced in this way of justification and greatly desired that it be brought to fulfillment as soon as possible.” We are not only now proclaiming for the first time the power of faith: “long ago both appointed and foretold this, God did” (blessed Theodoret). This is the order divinely ordained from the beginning by God for His divine providence concerning mankind! And now it is being fulfilled in you! God’s good pleasure and blessing, every grace and salvation belong to faith alone, as in Abraham. God set apart a people for Himself and clothed it with the Law for a time for His providential purposes. But the Gentiles He allowed to walk in their own will, also for a time: for they too are His people, and He has preserved for them the blessing which they were to receive in their own time. Yet the law of receiving this blessing is always the same – faith, just as in Abraham. That time has been fulfilled. The Gentiles are called to accept the blessing of Abraham from God, and to accept it apart from the Law, directly through faith. This is the meaning of the present time! This is the significance of the faith handed down to you! The thought that should have been impressed on the souls of the Galatians from this was: therefore, by inclining toward the Law, we are withdrawing from under such a blessing from God, we are depriving ourselves of a good that cannot be compensated to others by anything, we are creating for ourselves an irreplaceable loss.

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

This is the direct conclusion from the preceding. Believers, becoming equal to Abraham in spirit, and in God’s assessment of them become on the same line with him and are accounted worthy of the same blessing with which Abraham was blessed. “The Galatians were afraid, lest they fall under a curse if they do not partake of the Law. The Apostle shows that, on the contrary, those will be blessed who, apart from the Law, cleave to faith, just as faithful Abraham was blessed for his faith, not knowing the Law” (blessed Theophylact).

“Those who are of faith” – “those who are united with Abraham through faith, are reckoned in his seed and together with him are blessed” (Ecumenius)

One should not pass over without attention the word: “faithful”. Abraham was a believer not with mere faith, but such as was always accompanied by deed. He believed – and went out from his land, not knowing where he was going. He believed – and was prepared to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, all the while not doubting that God’s promise concerning offspring would be fulfilled. He was always faithful to his faith, and as he believed, so he acted. Therefore God Himself explains His extreme and preeminent good pleasure toward him by the fact that “he hearkened”, He says, “to My voice, and kept My commandments, and My statutes, My ordinances and My laws” (Gen. 26:5). Some insist: faith, faith. One must answer them: yes, nothing like faith; but only inseparable from steadfast faithfulness to faith. It is also timely now to make an exposition toward the clarification of the concept of justification. It was said earlier that God, foreseeing the justification of the Gentiles through faith, gave the promise to Abraham concerning the blessing of them in him. Consequently, the foreseen justification is the promised blessing. Therefore, in the conclusion from that, He did not say: so those of faith will be justified, but: “will be blessed”. In this way justification is explained by blessing; blessing, in turn, further down in verse 14, is identified with receiving the Spirit through faith. – Consequently, justification is not merely the declaration righteous of the one justified, but also complete sanctification of him through the grace of the Holy Spirit, his internal transformation and renewal. In this very action faith is the conditioning principle, not the productive power.

It comes to mind that this verse 9 is the end of the present argument and directly connects with verse 14. Verses 10–13, on the other hand, contain an inserted thought, which relates to the argument only indirectly; so that if these verses were not present, the argument would be complete even without them. This remark is made because verses 10–13 are very difficult to understand both in their content and in their connection with the preceding and following course of discourse. Thus, if we do not understand them as we should, this will certainly be a loss for our knowledge, but will not in any way harm the force of the argument which the holy Paul presents in this section (verses 6–14). The Apostle’s speech is very condensed. In a single proposition he embraces much and between one and another leaves a whole series of thoughts which must be reproduced to see their connection. What wonder is it if, not having the mind of the Apostle, we do not succeed in this?

We make an attempt at clarifying the content of these verses (10–14). Here it is not a new argument against the further necessity of the Law, but an explanation of the power of Abraham’s blessing through contrast with the legal curse, – as is evident from the end of this inserted section in verse 14, where blessing of Abraham is mentioned again. This makes clear that an explanatory discourse has been introduced and brought back again to what was said before the beginning of it in verse 9. Therefore, further on, in verse 15, the objection is made not to the thought in verses 10–13, but to that in verse 9. If one were to recognize in this section a separate argument against the necessity of the Law from the nature of the Law itself and the redemptive power of the Lord’s cross-death, then this would confuse the course of the Apostle’s thoughts without any necessity and without any benefit for understanding the Epistle.

This, we think, is the course of thoughts in this section: The Apostle speaks to the Galatians as if thus: faith has made you partakers of Abraham’s blessing, and you need nothing more. Be only faithful to what you have already received. But if you turn to the Law, – you will not only lose the blessing, but you will be near a curse: watch out, you will fall under a curse. Though the Law says that “the one who does them will live by them” (Lev. 18:5), no one is able to keep it (Acts 15:10). Therefore, on all who rest on the Law alone and are satisfied with it alone, lies a fearful curse, guarding the Law: cursed is everyone, and so on. You will say: what does this mean? It is as if the Law was given for the purpose of bringing a curse on those who obey it, and moreover by the command of God Himself. A whole people, through having the Law laid upon them, was brought under a curse and held under it for so much time. No; in the Law itself are contained ordinances how to prevent the curse falling on every transgressor of the Law, – namely, sacrifices. There are sacrifices for the sins of all the people, there are sacrifices for the sins of kings, princes, high priests, and every private person; for every sin there is its own sacrifice. Whoever offers the sacrifice corresponding to his sin is cleansed from sin and the curse no longer falls on him. You will say: ah! so then the Law gives all that is necessary; it shows how to live, and when we sin, it provides the means of cleansing through offering the sacrifice corresponding to the sin. That is true; but do not forget that the cleansing power of the sacrifices lies not in themselves but outside them, in the power of that sacrifice which was to be offered (and has now been offered) by Him whom all expect to come (and who has now come). The sacrifices cleansed through their union with faith in Him, the Blessed One, coming in the name of the Lord. Without it they are nothing in themselves. Therefore it is written: “the righteous by faith will live” (Hab. 2:4). If you remain with the Law alone without faith, you will not escape the curse: “there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin” (Eccl. 7:20). Turn now to the present time. He whom all expect to come as a blessing, for faith in Whom even the sacrifices cleansed sins, has already come and offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all. Those who sinned under the Law He redeemed from the curse of the Law through His death on the cross. We have no need now of sacrifices or any other cleansing and justifying actions of the Law. We believe directly in Christ the Lord who was crucified and thus prevent the curse and receive the blessing. In this way we, Jews, by rejecting the Law, are united through faith with Christ the Lord and restore in ourselves the blessing of Abraham, while you, Gentiles, apart from the Law, by believing directly in Him, appropriate to yourselves this blessing. We and you – the promise of the Spirit we receive by faith alone. Why then the Law – for you, when it is no longer necessary for us either?

Such is the course of thoughts aroused by the words of the Apostle in this section. Having assimilated it, we will more clearly understand the meaning of each verse and its connection with others. As for whether this is a new argument or an explanation of the preceding, there is nothing to argue about. In our opinion, here is an explanation consisting in the resolution of such a difficulty: you say, the blessing of Abraham is from faith; but is it not from the Law? No, he says, from the Law comes rather a curse than a blessing, if you remain with it alone. Its curse hangs over the head of the one under the Law; faith in the crucified Lord alone delivers from the curse.

After such a clarification of the content of the aforesaid verses let us turn to the necessary clarifications of each verse in parts.

Gal. 3:10. For all who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, to do them.

“Those of the works of the Law” – these are those who expect to please God and be saved by works of the Law, strictly observing the legal ordinances – concerning circumcision, the Sabbath, feasts, washings, sacrifices and the like. That such, insofar as they are such, are under a curse cannot be accepted unconditionally, otherwise it would follow that the Law itself was given for the purpose of bringing a curse. But one cannot reason thus: for the Law is from God; and God’s ordinances are all good and lead to salvation. Therefore it is written: “the one who does them will live in them” (Ezek. 20:11). And to those who keep the Law, great promises have been given (Deut. 28). The history of the people of Israel shows that when they were faithful to the Law, God was favorably disposed toward them, but when they turned away, they were subjected to punishments from God.

Under what conditions then were those under the Law subject to the curse? Before the coming of Christ, those under the Law were subject to the curse who did not keep the Law and, having violated it in some way, did not repent and did not hasten to be cleansed by the means appointed in the Law itself. The Law itself foresaw transgressions and itself prescribed how to be reconciled with it. Whoever did not avail himself of these means remained under the curse, both as a violator of the Law and as one obstinate in that violation, not hastening to reform and make amends in a lawful manner. Furthermore, since the means of atoning for guilt had power to do so not in themselves but through faith in that which they foreshadowed and represented; then under the curse also was the one who even used the lawful means but without the proper faith. Finally, since the entire Law was permeated with the prefiguration of the Coming One and led every law-keeper to Him; then in general any faithful keeper of the Law, as soon as he did not sanctify his life through faith in this Coming One, was not fully faithful to the Law, did not abide in all that the Law prescribed.

The holy Apostle Paul in this place could only have in mind the latter. He said before that those of faith will be blessed with faithful Abraham, apart from the Law, not knowing it, not partaking of it. Now he says: on the contrary, those under the Law, as soon as they remain with the Law alone without faith, are under a curse: for they do not fulfill that to which the Law leads them through its prescriptions.

Such a thought satisfactorily explains the connection of the verses, if we take the Law here abstractly, without reference to the circumstance for which the discourse concerning the Law is conducted. But if we take this into account, then we must accept that the Apostle speaks of the Law from the perspective of the New Testament, that is, after the coming of Christ the Savior, whom the Law prefigured. Those against whom the holy Paul wrote were believers in Christ, but who, along with faith in Him, demanded also the observance of the shadowy written Law (the old). Therefore the thought previously expressed cannot strike them and convince the Galatians of the wrongness of their new steps. We must therefore conclude that the holy Paul meant to say that those under the Law are under a curse after the coming of Christ the Lord. In this case the proposition expressed by him is unconditional. And the Lord said that the Law and the Prophets were until John, that is, until the coming of the Lord Himself who was promised. And this is prescribed in the Law itself, understanding it as the Old Testament guidance of God. Therefore, whoever still holds to the Law as a condition of salvation after the coming of Christ the Savior acts against the Law; and whoever acts against the Law is subject to the curse; therefore those under the Law are under a curse – those very ones who were seducing the Galatians.

The holy Paul brings as the reason for the subjection of those of the Law to the curse the fact that against every violator of something written in the Law a threat of curse is prescribed. It is not difficult to see that the reason does not directly follow from the stated proposition. The proposition says: those under the Law are under a curse, while the reason is: because those who violate the Law are threatened with a curse. If it had been said that those who hold to the Law are subject to curse, there would be a direct reason, but here it speaks of violators of the Law, who are, of course, those who depart from it – whether at the time or in the manner they violate it. If we accept directly that those of the Law are under a curse because violators of the Law are threatened with a curse, then in this respect the New Testament ordinance differs in no way from the Old Testament. And in it too are prescribed threats, even more fearful than the ancient ones. The same Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says: “If the word spoken by angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was first announced by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard” (Heb. 2:2–3). In another place: “Whoever has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28–29). And yet again: “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned” (Heb. 6:7–8). And at the fearful judgment what will the Lord say to those who have violated His commandments of the New Covenant? “Depart from me, you cursed” (Matt. 25:41). Setting these threats alongside the words of the Apostle in the place we are considering in the Epistle to the Galatians, we come to a similar conclusion, that those of faith are under a curse because those unfaithful to faith are threatened with a curse, and moreover an eternal one.

How then should we understand this? We must allow that there are implied thoughts in the speech of the holy Apostle. Not only the thought that no one could keep the Law; for even in the new grace, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But especially this: that the Law, in case of violation of it, offers nothing in itself for the cleansing of the one who has sinned. It had sacrifices of purification; but they received their power from faith in the Lord, and therefore not from itself but from outside itself. Therefore when it stands alone, it leaves those who follow it without any help in case of violation, and it only bears down upon them with the full weight of its judgment. And in the New Testament ordinance the power of sin is the same: it takes away blessing and brings about a curse; but the very essence of the New Covenant consists in the covering of all sins that befall a believer through the mediation of Christ the Lord, who was crucified for us. “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). The Law does not have this advocacy covering of sins when it stands alone without faith or when, after the coming of the Advocate, it is held as a condition of salvation while maintaining faith; for in such a case faith is not faith; the one who relies in this way on the Law diminishes the Advocate and loses thereby the power of His advocacy. In this way the thought of the holy Apostle stands on the truth that the Law alone without faith leaves those who follow it under the full severity of its curse. That this is indeed the thought of the Apostle is evident from the following verse, in which the salvific nature of the Law is made conditional upon faith. The Law justified, but only through faith; and apart from faith no one was justified by the Law; there were righteous people in the Old Testament, but they all were righteous because of faith.

Gal. 3:11. And that no one is justified before God by the Law is clear, because ‘the righteous by faith will live.

The Apostle impresses upon us the thought that the Law, even from its original institution, had no power to justify before God or to establish anyone in such a state as to be recognized by God as righteous. This is evident from the fact that it is written there: “the righteous by faith will live” (Hab. 2:4). This would not have been said if the Law by itself had the power to justify and make alive. And all the Old Testament righteous were saved not by the Law alone, but also by faith. Blessed Jerome writes: “What then? Were Moses and Isaiah and the other Prophets, who were under the yoke of the Law, also under the curse? To this we answer: Our Lord Jesus Christ with His precious blood redeemed from the curse of the Law both all of us and Moses and Aaron themselves, and all the Prophets and Patriarchs. And do not think that I am saying this from my own mind: Scripture itself testifies to it, saying: ‘Christ died for all’ (2 Cor. 5:14). If for all, then also for Moses and for all the Prophets, not one of whom was able to blot out the old handwriting that was against us and nail it to the cross (Col. 2:14). And they were justified and saved by faith.”

Before people, perhaps, those who kept the Law appeared righteous, as the Pharisees, who justified themselves before men, but not before God. Before Him there is no one righteous without faith. Faith both before the Law and after the Law was given blessed and justified (blessed Theophylact).

The Law, as soon as it stood without faith, became ranked with all the religions existing on earth and did not give what those who relied on it hoped to obtain from it. The same holds true of everything that a person might devise for his justification and on which he might hope to rely for his salvation apart from faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Works are necessary; but the truly purifying and life-giving power they receive solely from faith: without it they are nothing. Here are remarkable words of blessed Jerome on this thought: “It should be noted that the Apostle did not say: every man by faith will live, so as not to give occasion to despise works of virtue, but: ‘the righteous by faith will live’; so that the one who is to live by faith can come to faith, or live in it, only by having first become (or thereby becoming) righteous and having ascended to faith by means of the steps of purity of life. Therefore, someone can be righteous and yet not be alive, until he receives faith in Christ. Remember the words of the apostle Paul about himself – ‘as to the righteousness of the Law, blameless’ (Phil. 3:6). See, Paul was righteous by the Law, but he could not yet be alive, because he did not have Christ within him, who says: ‘I am the life’ (John 11:25). He began to live only after he believed. Let us make this application to ourselves, and just as it is said: ‘the righteous by faith will live,’ let us say: the pure by faith live, the wise by faith live, the strong by faith live, and concerning all other virtues let us express a judgment similar to these, in opposition to those who, not believing in Christ, think they are strong and wise and temperate, in general righteous. Let us understand that no one can live without Christ, without whom every virtue is not unblemished.”

The words: “the righteous by faith will live” – are contained in the prophecies of the holy Habakkuk; but they are brought there as a well-known proposition. Therefore, to explain the meaning of them from that place in the Prophet is not absolutely necessary, especially since that passage is rather obscure, while these words are very clear in themselves. And St. Paul cites them more than once in his Epistles. From this it may be concluded that they frequently circulated in the mouths of those who understood the meaning of the Law as it ought to be understood.

Gal. 3:12. The Law is not based on faith; rather, ‘the one who does these things will live by them (Lev. 18:5; Neh. 9:29; Ezek. 20:21).

The Law is not of such a nature as faith. Or: the Law does not promise life on the basis of faith, but says: do these things and you shall live. He is speaking here of the Law by itself, separately from faith. As before he spoke of the Law in its complete institution with the seed of faith hidden in it and fulfilling it; so now he speaks of it alone without faith. By itself the Law “insists on only this: keep the Law and you shall live. Whoever does not keep it is condemned; for he allowed that which he knew he ought to avoid” (Ambrosiaster).

Such is the essence of every law. The civil law demands the same, as does the law of conscience, and so does the written Law. And every law is a law precisely because it requires fulfillment and imposes an obligation to do so. All external laws are attached to the law of conscience; and conscience God in creating joined inseparably with consciousness and feeling, so that there is no person who does not feel the voice repeating within him: do these things and you shall live. And since there is no one who has truly acknowledged himself to be right in all things, there is no one who does not seek justification outside himself. The evidence for this is the arrangement of all religions on earth. Such an arrangement God has given to our spiritual nature so that in ourselves we might feel a constant impulse to have recourse to the shelter of the Lord, who has justified us by His death on the cross.

The Apostle’s attention is limited to the Old Mosaic Law alone, because it is he who is speaking of it. The present verse does not offer a new thought, but only clarifies the preceding one. The economy of salvation in the Old Testament, according to its spirit, generally says: the righteous by faith will live; but the Law, standing alone, separated from faith, insists: do these things and you shall live. Yet no one is able to do all that the Law requires; and thus those who rely on the Law alone find themselves without the possibility of attaining life. He is speaking to the Galatians as if thus: here is what has happened to you by inclining toward submission to the Law!

Where then is refuge? Here it is:

Gal. 3:13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming cursed on our behalf; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a pole.

The Apostle felt as though the Law was pursuing him and everywhere pressing upon him with its curse. Taking shelter through faith under the shadow of the cross of Christ, he breathes freely and in joy cries out: Glory to God! Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law.

In speaking of redemption from the curse of the Law, he makes clear that his attention is fixed on the Jews. For the curse of the Law, which he mentioned before in verse 10: that cursed is everyone who transgresses against the Law, rested only on the Jews. But the redemption of the Lord embraces all mankind, from the first person to the last, and its power extends into all eternity. It is the purpose of the discourse – the needlessness of the Law – that has restricted the Apostle to the Jews alone in this place. He has already explained above that the Law, the Old Testament ordinance, did not justify and did not save by itself alone, but only through faith in the coming Lord; by itself, standing alone, it only pressed down with a curse upon all. Now he says that the Promised One, faith in Whom gave strength to the Old Testament ordinance, has come and offered Himself as a sacrifice for all. We have turned to Him and through faith in Him are justified, sanctified, and prevent all curse of the Law. He offered Himself once and, living forever, forever makes intercession for us before the righteousness of God. Standing through faith under this intercessory shelter, we are safe from all penalties of the righteousness of the Law. This is precisely what has caused us to abandon the Old Testament ordinance and cleave to the new one in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is no longer needed now. Before, it still had strength on the condition of faith; but now even with faith, in its former sense, that is, in a Savior yet to come, it is nothing. For the Coming One has come, and to believe in one who is still to come, when He has already come, means to distort God’s order, to go against God and the Law itself, and deliberately to hold oneself under a curse. But us believing Jews, the Lord has redeemed both from the curse and from the obligations of the Law. All that – away! We go by a new and living way, straight to life, which is in Christ.

By such discourse we clarify the relation of this place to the preceding. But in itself it is clear. A curse lay upon us; the Lord, having been crucified on the cross, took upon Himself this curse for us, not being subject to it, as the holy and unblemished One: for “cursed is everyone who hangs on a pole” before God (Deut. 21:23). In Deuteronomy in the place indicated, there is prescribed that a son who is disobedient, a glutton, a drunkard – is to be put to death and hanged on a pole; at evening he is to be taken down and buried, so that he does not spend the night on the pole. For cursed before God is the one hanging thus. This hanging was a sign of the extreme wickedness of the one hanging, for which he was cursed before God. It was not the hanging itself that brought about the curse, but the sin that led to such a punishment. “Not everyone who hangs on a pole is cursed before God, but the one who has committed a sin deserving of death, was put to death for it, and hanged on a pole. He is not cursed because he hangs on a pole, but because he fell into such a sin that he deserved to be hanged” (blessed Jerome).

This place is a prefiguring prophecy; for as everything in the Old Testament is a shadow of what was to come, so this ordinance was a foreshadowing of the cross-death of the Lord. And He was hanged on a pole, and at evening He was taken down. There was no sin in Him; but since in the Law the hanging properly signified sin and curse, the hanging of the Lord likewise signified what it had the force to signify, only it did not touch Him Himself, as the spotless One, but all mankind. On the cross the very curse was hanged, so that it no longer exists for anyone who takes shelter under the shadow of the cross. St. Chrysostom speaks of this: “He who wishes to destroy a curse must himself be free from the curse, must take upon himself an undeserved curse – in place of the deserved one: such a curse Christ took upon Himself and thereby destroyed the deserved one. And as someone not subject to condemnation, having resolved to die for one condemned to death, thereby delivers him from death, so also did Christ. Since He was not subject to curse for breaking the Law, He took upon Himself – in place of what was deserved by us – a curse not deserved by Him, in order to free all from the deserved one. ‘He did no wrong, and no deceit was found in his mouth’ (Isa. 53:9). But as he who died for those condemned to death frees them from death, so also he who took upon himself the curse freed them from the curse.” “Let no one be troubled,” writes blessed Jerome, “that Christ became for us a curse. God, who made Him a curse, Himself made Him also a sin for us (see 2 Cor. 5:21). The Savior, from the fullness of Godhead, humbled Himself to take upon Himself the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7). But the humiliation of our Lord is our glory. He died so that we might live; He went down to Hades so that we might ascend to heaven; He became foolishness so that He might be wisdom. He diminished Himself from the fullness of Godhead, taking the form of a slave, so that the fullness of Godhead might dwell in us and we might become masters from slaves. He hanged on a pole so that the sin we committed on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil might be destroyed by hanging on a pole. He became also a curse, so that blessing might descend upon us and rest in us.”

Thanks be to the Lord, we all believing Christians are sheltered under the shadow of the cross from all the curse-bearing threats of the Law. But this is not unconditional. “There is now no condemnation,” – but how? if we do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:1) – in other words: if we abstain from every sin and strive to fulfill all the commandments of the Gospel, strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Without this, however, the curse stands in all its force even upon us. Let no one think that because the Lord has redeemed us from the curse and we believe, we can live as we please. No, as soon as we sin, an even greater punishment falls upon us. Our advantage is that when, striving to fulfill the commandments, we stumble and fall, then, having acknowledged, confessed, and lamented the sin, we immediately receive forgiveness and remission, because of the eternal intercession standing before the righteousness of God in our behalf of the crucified Lord, and because of the efforts we make toward atoning for sin, by which to us is grafted the power of that heavenly intercession, through faith in Him.

The curse of the Law follows at the heels of every transgressor of the Law. It is bound up with transgression of the Law, as blessing is bound up with its observance. In paradise it was said: “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). This is the curse which came into effect following the eating. In the Law the prescribed curse is well known. And the Gentiles too had a curse upon them, only not through the written Law, but through the law of conscience. For what is the remorse of conscience but an action of the curse, placed by the righteousness of God for every transgression of the Law? And even those under the Gospel are not free from the curse, as soon as they do not fulfill the commandments of the Gospel (blessed Jerome, at length). True life is in the rigorous, complete, and comprehensive fulfillment of the will of God, expressed in the commandments and prescriptions of the moral Law (Matt. 7:21). The entire economy of salvation in the New Testament – the Incarnation, the cross, the grace of the Spirit – all of this is for the purpose of fulfilling what was weak in the Law, not to set it aside or relegate it to a secondary place. To this our entire attention, all our strength, and all our care ought to be directed. The one who diverts his attention elsewhere slips from the essential point, loses the goal, adopts a misguided direction. Let faith turn here, let the mysteries turn here, let all the sanctifying and strengthening orders of the Church turn here, let all struggles turn here! All must be directed toward the goal that we show ourselves to be children of God, unblemished at the coming of the Lord.

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

How is it that with the redemption from the curse of the Law the extension of the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus to the Gentiles is so closely bound that the latter is the direct consequence of the former? As already noted before, the discourse of the holy Apostle is very condensed here, and to understand the connection between the propositions he expresses, it is necessary to reproduce a whole series of supplementary thoughts. This must be done here as well. It is now very clear to us from a distance how the blessing of Abraham passed to the Gentiles. The ordinance under the Law given by God through Moses was the only true faith on earth. But this ordinance was so organized that it separated the Jewish people from all nations. The Law was a wall between the nations and the Jews. This in itself is not so significant; but it is significant in that through such a separation the Gentiles were separated also from the blessing which was hidden in the Law through faith in the Coming One. By this secret treasure the Law was strong before God and men. Abraham was promised a blessing through him for the nations, but this blessing was not to pass to them through the air. It was hidden in the Law so that in its own time it would be revealed and poured out upon them. Thus the Law both shut out the Gentiles and held within it the seed of blessing for them. How then could they taste the blessing? In no other way than through the abolishment of the Law as a Law. By this the barrier of the Law was broken down, and the blessing hidden in it became accessible to the Gentiles. The death on the cross of the Lord accomplished this work. It made unnecessary all the ordinances of the Law, for they were a shadow of the truth, now revealed in reality. But this death had such power because it was a redemption from the curse of the Law (both the written and unwritten Law properly speaking, but as regards the Jews – the written, for it is of this we speak). This is how it came about that with the redemption from the curse of the Law was joined the extension of the blessing of Abraham to the Gentiles. This redemption was accomplished by the Lord’s cross-death, – the cross-death made all the Old Testament justifying ordinances unnecessary, and with their abolishment the entire Old Testament ordinance was broken down, and the blessing hidden in it, through faith in the Coming One, became accessible through faith to all the world. For the blessing of Abraham was concerning his seed, that is, concerning Christ Jesus, the Lord, who according to the flesh came from his seed, faith in Whom constituted the mystical essence of both the Old Testament and the New.

“So that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” By these words is explained the power of Abraham’s blessing. Abraham was told only that in his seed all would be blessed. The Prophets afterward explained that this blessing is not fleshly, but spiritual and would consist in an outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh (Isa. 44:3; Joel 2:28; Zech. 12:10). This the holy Peter confessed and proclaimed aloud to all Jerusalem at the very hour of the descent of the Holy Spirit. The reception of the Holy Spirit and the tangible manifestation of His action in souls became the distinguishing mark of those who truly believed in Christ. And speaking generally, the essence of Christianity consists in the renewal of our fallen nature by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Where this renewal is not, there is no Spirit; where there is no Spirit, there is no Christ; where there is no Christ, there is falsehood and ruin. This renewal must be the aim of seeking for Christians. Faith in the Lord, with the resolve to follow His will, is the exclusive condition for receiving the Holy Spirit through the mysteries. But by this only the seed of renewal is laid; the renewal itself is accomplished by the Spirit through the labors of a person in keeping the commandments and the voluntary undertaking of whatever struggles are within one’s strength. There is no other way. Those who turn away from this latter condition cannot attain renewal, however wisely they may speak about Christianity.

As to the connection of these words with what precedes, just as, having spoken of redemption from the curse of the Law, the Apostle had in mind the Jews, and having spoken of the spreading of Abraham’s blessing to the Gentiles, had in mind these latter, there will be no inconsistency in supposing that, speaking of the reception of the Spirit, he had in mind both, and by the word “we shall receive” meant: we Christians from both Jews and Gentiles.

The holy Fathers do not attend to the grammatical flow of speech, but only to the relationship of the truths expressed here. “Since,” writes the holy Damascene, “the grace of the Holy Spirit could not descend upon the unclean and those under disfavor, they are first blessed with the removal of the curse; then, justified by faith, they draw down the grace of the Spirit: thus the cross destroyed the curse, faith brought justification, and justification drew down the grace of the Holy Spirit.” For, “to receive the promise of the Spirit,” according to Theophylact, “it was necessary to be justified by faith.” Concerning Abraham’s blessing upon the nations, the holy Chrysostom says: “It is evident that all this is said of Christ; for He was the seed of Abraham, and by Him all peoples are blessed and receive the promise of the Spirit. Pointing to this, the Apostle also says: so that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Since, however, the grace of the Spirit cannot be poured out upon those deprived of grace and under a curse, they are first blessed through the removal of the curse; then, justified through faith, they receive the grace of the Spirit. Thus the cross destroyed the curse, and faith introduced justification, and justification brought down the grace of the Spirit.”