Christ Has Redeemed Us From the Curse of the Law

Christ Has Redeemed Us From the Curse of the Law

“Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

The law says, “You shall not covet.” Rom. 7:7. Covetousness is something that is hidden, and no one had been able to fulfill this requirement of the law. Consequently, everyone was under the curse. The law was weak because of the flesh; it could not lead a man to the righteousness of God. We learn this from the incident of the woman who was caught in adultery. They stood there as the righteous ones, and the woman was presented as the sinner. However, Jesus unmasked their hypocrisy, and they went out without condemning her. They had come under the curse themselves. John 8:3-11.

God sent His Son to redeem us from the curse of the law so that we might receive the Spirit who had been promised. Of course, the One who was to redeem us had to be free from the curse Himself. Therefore God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. Rom. 8:3-4. In this way covetousness in the flesh was brought into death, and the law was fulfilled. He who had not sinned and should therefore not have had to die, gave Himself a ransom for all. 1 Tim. 2:6. He has redeemed us by His precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, from our aimless conduct which we have inherited from our fathers. 1 Pet. 1:18-19.

By this work of God through His Son we are redeemed from the curse—as many as believe—and can thus receive the Spirit who was promised. In this way the requirement of the law can be fulfilled in those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. In all of them covetousness in the flesh is put to death. This death is called the death of Jesus. This leads to sufferings in the flesh, and as a result we live according to the will of God during the time we are in the flesh. 1 Pet. 4:1-2. Our boasting is excluded because this work is a work of the Spirit in those who believe. Rom. 3:27.

If anyone thought he could boast according to the flesh, Paul could do it even more on the basis, among other things, that he was blameless according to the law in righteousness. He called the righteousness he received by the law his righteousness. He could not put covetousness in the flesh to death by means of the law. That is why these Pharisees became whitewashed graves. Paul loved the truth; he could not be satisfied with this kind of righteousness. He sought the righteousness that is received by faith in Christ—the righteousness of God on the basis of faith. Then he goes on to explain the way of faith to the righteousness of God.

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:1-14.

“Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:10-11.

This is the hidden life with Christ in God. Col. 3:3-6. All those who serve in the newness of the Spirit live this hidden life with Christ in God; they attain to the “righteousness of God.” That is the resurrection life. Everything is truth through and through. Rom. 10:3.

Those who serve in the oldness of the letter live before the face of man; they are like whitewashed graves. They will never obtain God’s rest. Rom. 7:6; Heb. 4:11-13.