Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Parallel translations
- WEB 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,”
- KJV Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
- NKJV Christ has 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 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”—
- NLT But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Christ redeemed us from the law's curse by becoming a curse for us on the cross. He bore the condemnation we deserved.
Overview
Here Paul reaches the gospel's heart: Christ took the curse of the law upon himself, hanging on the tree, to set believers free. Quoting Deuteronomy about one 'hanged on a tree,' he applies it to the crucifixion as substitutionary atonement. This is the great exchange, Christ cursed so that the guilty might be blessed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 40
- 1 Pet 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- Deut 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
- Heb 9:12He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
- Heb 9:15Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
- 1 Pet 1:18–21For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- Heb 10:4–10because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
- Rev 5:9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- Gal 4:5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.
- Rom 3:24–26and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
- Matt 26:28This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
- Rev 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,
- 1 Jn 4:10And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
- 1 Jn 2:1–2My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
- Titus 2:14He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 1 Pet 3:18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- Isa 55:10–12For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Heb 9:26Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
- Heb 9:28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
- Gal 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Dan 9:24Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
- 2 Cor 5:21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Acts 5:30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.
- 2 Kgs 22:19because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
- Eph 5:2and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- Heb 7:26–27Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
- Rom 8:3–4For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
- 2 Sam 18:14–15But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.
- Rom 4:25He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
- 2 Sam 21:3So David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”
- Isa 55:5–7Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.”
- Jer 49:13For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”
- Rev 13:8And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.
- Dan 9:26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
- Matt 27:5So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
- 2 Sam 18:10When one of the men saw this, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”
- Josh 10:26–27After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
- 2 Sam 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
- Esth 9:14So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
- Jer 44:22So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 3:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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