Let’s begin with a little recap. Galatians is a letter written by Paul to address believers in the region of Galatia, which is modern day Turkey. He wrote this letter to defend that salvation is based on faith alone in Christ alone. There were false teachers infiltrating pulpit churches where Paul declared the gospel and were getting the Galatian believers to turn away from the true gospel to a gospel that does not save. Along the way, the Galatian believer’s began doubting the message Paul preached and even started doubting Paul as the messenger.
Now we are seeking to answer a big question: are we saved by works or by faith? As you can tell from the title, this is the fourth time we are looking at this question. It is a big question. A question that should not be taken lightly. A question Paul does not take lightly. We are going to continue to seek to answer this question in Galatians 3:10-14. The overall point that Paul makes is this: the righteous shall live by faith. And he uses the Old Testament to make his point.
Point 1: We begin with Paul telling the Galatians, if they attempt to attain perfection before God by law-keeping, they will be cursed.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:10), “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.” In other words, everyone who tries to attain their salvation by good works is under a curse. Everyone who attempts to win their salvation by being morally perfect is cursed. Everyone who tries to be made right with God by obedience to the law is cursed. Everyone who tries to be made acceptable in the sight of God by law-keeping is cursed. Everyone who tries to be declared innocent from sin is cursed.
Now, what does Paul mean when he uses the world “curse”? What he means is those who rely on good works to attain their salvation are doomed. They are going to suffer a misfortunate, eternal fate. People who rely on being morally perfect, good people, to attain salvation, are going to be condemned.
Why are people who rely on good works cursed? Paul’ answer is this (Gal. 3:10),”for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Notice that Paul is putting this in quotations; he is quoting Deuteronomy 27:26. So, Paul is using Old Testament to make his point. And his point is this: Everyone who is depending on good works to save them must obey all the commands that are written in the Word of God or else your cursed, your doomed, your condemned.
What’s the problem with that? Well, the problem with that is, as we have said many times now, we are not good law-keepers. As hard as we might try, it is impossible for us to uphold God’s standard of morality which is found in the Ten Commandments. As hard as we might try, we cannot help but lie, steal, anger, lust, covet and so forth. Which is why we are sinners who are worthy of the wrath of God. And is why if you try to rely on good works to attain your salvation, you will go to hell.
Point 2: Then, Paul points out it is evident that no one is saved by good works.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:11a), “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law.” In other words, it is clear that no one is declared innocent from their sin before God by obeying the Ten Commandments. It is plain that no one is made right before God by law-keeping. It is obvious that no can be made acceptable in the sight of God through good works.
How is it evident that we are not declared innocent from our sin by works? Paul’s answer is this (Gal. 3:11b): “for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.” Notice that Paul is putting this in quotations again, quoting from Habakkuk 2:4. He is using the Old Testament again to make his point, and Paul’s point is this: according to Habakkuk 2:4, those who are declared innocent from sin before God are made innocent by faith. According to Habakkuk 2:4, those who are made right and acceptable in the sight of God are right and acceptable before God by faith.
Paul’s trying to help the Galatian believers see, this is not a New Testament issue. This is not a new and radical teaching. This is the way things have always been. God made known through the prophets like Habakkuk, that those who are made right in His sight are done so by faith and not by works.
Point 3: Next, Paul wants the Galatian believers to see that how the law works and how faith works are very different.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:12), “But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.” Here Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5 to make his point: the law is not based off faith and faith is not based on the law. Faith is based on belief and the law is based off obedience. Obedience to a law we cannot possibly completely obey. Therefore, no one can use The Ten Commandments as a means to save themselves.
Point 4: Now, Paul turns his attention from the law to Jesus. He wants the Galatian believers to know that Jesus died to redeem them from the law’s curse.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:13), “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…” Jesus came to save us from being condemned. He came to rescue us from certain doom. And he did that by redeeming us.
What does the word redeemed mean? The word redeem means to buy or pay off. This implies that we were in debt. That we needed to be bought. That we needed to be paid off.
Why are we in debt? The reason we are in debt is because of “the curse of the law”. What is the curse of the law? The curse of the law is this: it is the penalty for not obeying what the law says.
What is the penalty for not obeying the law? The penalty is death. Again, we see Paul quoting Old Testament Scripture Deut. 21:23. According to Deut. 21:23, those who broke the law, those who committed a crime, were punishable by death. A death that involved being hung from a tree. That’s us.
Everyone of us deserves to be hanged, because all of us are criminals.The reason we all of us are criminals, is because everyone of us has broken the law of God. We deserve to be tried, found guilty, and hung. We deserve the death penalty. The debt we owe is death.
Death is what we owe because of our sinning against God. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death.” Because we are not good law-keepers, because we have all sinned by breaking God’s moral law, the Ten Commandments, we are all criminals, we are all sinners, and therefore we all have a sin-debt, and the result of our debt to sin is an eternal death in hell. Thus, trying to attain salvation by good works does not save us, it only puts us further into debt.
This is the purpose of Jesus’ coming. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth, sent by God the Father, in order to pay off that sin debt. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to buy us back.
How did Jesus pay off our debt to sin? How did Jesus redeem us? Paul answers that question like this (Gal. 3:13), “by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”. When Jesus was hung on a tree in the form of a cross, he took upon himself the curse of our wrongdoing. Jesus paid off our sin debt, he bought us back, by dying the death we all deserve, even though he himself never sinned. God poured out his wrath on His only begotten Son, a wrath we deserve, in order to pay off our sin-debt. Jesus who knew no sin, took upon himself our sins, in order to bear the brunt of God’s wrath for us sinners, just so we could be made right in the sight of God by faith.
Point 5: Finally, Paul wants the Galatians to know, because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we can receive the same blessing God promised to Abraham.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:14), “So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” In other words, God the Father, through his only Son, Jesus Christ, has blessed us who are not Jewish with the same promise he made to Abraham – we can be saved by faith alone. And we are saved by faith alone when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died, was buried, and was raised from the grave for the forgiveness of our sins. And, when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and trust Jesus with the salvation of our soul, we receive the Holy Spirit, who seals us and acts as a guarantee for the inheritance of heaven.