13) Galatians 3:10
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” (Galatians 3:10, ESV Bible)
Curse of the Law
If a Messianic Jew or Christian decides to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day or to eat kosher, he might be warned by a well-meaning brother in the Master, "Why would you place yourself under the law? Don't you know that those who are of the works of the law are under a curse?" One does not hear that sentiment as often nowadays as in the past because, as biblical literacy wanes, people are less and less aware of the basis for their own theology. In the past, one certainly might have expected to hear such a statement in regard to any form of "keeping the law." I wonder how many believers have been scared off from the good things of the Torah such as the beauty, for example, of honoring the Sabbath or the festivals because they were afraid that by doing so they might be bringing themselves under a curse.
Moreover, I wonder to what extent Galatians 3: 10 is responsible for the vilification of the Jewish people who, by common consent of the early church theologians, were an accursed race. The logic works quite naturally. If those who practice the works of the law are under a curse, then the Jewish people are an accursed, miserable people. When people are accursed, it is a lot easier to justify bigotry and brutality against them. In that regard, Galatians 3:10 is an important text for theological anti-Semitism, for anti-Judaism, and anti-Torah sentiment in general.
Under the Curse
Galatians 3:10 is yet another obscure, misread, misused, and problematic text. This is not a problem for most of Christian theology. From a traditional church perspective, the meaning is self-evident:
Those who practice the Torah are under a curse.
That explanation does not work for those in the Messianic Jewish movement, and it does not work for explaining Paul either. We know, from Paul's own admission, that he himself kept the Torah as an observant Jew-a Pharisee, even. So in that case, Paul would be placing himself under a curse.
The King James Version of Galatians 3: 10 is more literal than the English Standard Version. The ESV version says, "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse." That is certainlv a better thought-for-thought paraphrase which conveys the sense and the intention of the verse, but it is not what Paul literally wrote. The ESV translators supplied the word "rely", and they did well to do so. It brings a lot of clarity to Paul's intention, but when Paul wrote the Epistle to the Galatians, he did not say "who rely on works of the law," he said, "those who are of the works of the law." In the literal reading, it sounds like Paul is saying that those who keep the Torah are under a curse.
This is troubling because the logical implication is that in order to avoid this curse, one should do the exact opposite of everything that Torah says. Otherwise, he might fall into this obligation of keeping the Torah. If he does not continue to keep the whole Torah, he is under a curse. According to such interpretations, a person has only two options vis-à-vis the Torah: keep all of it flawlessly and without error or keep none of it whatsoever.
Another Look at “Works of the Law”
Paul said, "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." That raises a lot of questions. For example, if a man were to keep the commandment of the law that says "honor your father and mother," might he be placing himself under the curse of the Torah?
We have already learned in previous sermons that the term "works of the law" does not refer to just any of the commandments in the Torah. Instead, we learned that when Paul used the term "works of the law" he was referring specifically to those particular sign commandments and statutes which identify a person as Jewish, such as circumcision. Therefore, we are not just talking about obedience to God's commandments in general; we are talking about Jewish obedience-obedience to those commandments in the Torah which are specifically incumbent upon the Jewish people.
The "works of the law" are the commandments that defined Jewish status in first-century Judaism, beginning with circumcision as an act of legal conversion. When Paul used the phrase "as many as are of the works of the law," there were only two possible people groups he might be identifying: those born Jewish and those who had undergone a conversion to become a proselyte. Accordingly, people who are legally Jewish, whether by birth or conversion, fall under this troubling curse.
Blessings and Curses in the Torah
Only Israel-according-to-the-flesh, that is, "those who are of the works of the law," fall under the curse. The malediction Paul cites is not a New Testament imprecation. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26, the conclusion of the covenant ceremony at Mount Gerizim and Ebal, where it says:
"Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all the people shall say, 'Amen."" (Deuteronomy 27:26)
For it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the law, and do them." (Galatians 3:10)
In the Torah, Deuteronomy 28 immediately follows with the full treatment of covenant blessings that Israel will attain for keeping the Torah and the withering curses that Israel will invoke for covenant infidelity and for breaking the Torah.
In that regard, Paul only reminded his readers of what the Torah has always said: there are terrible consequences for violating the covenant. The people of Israel receive consequences for violating the Torah. Moses himself said so. Here is a paraphrase of Galatians 3:10 in simple language:
Every legally Jewish person who does not keep the Torah is under a curse because that is what the Torah says.
It certainly does not mean that a Messianic Jew should not keep the Torah or that if a God-fearing Gentile believer begins to honor the Sabbath or chooses to eat kosher, he places himself under a curse. It does not mean that Torah observance, as a simple act of obedience to God and conformity to his word, invokes his curse. That would create a bizarre theology.
Doctrine of the Influencers
But why would Paul state the obvious? If he is just reiterating what the Torah has always said about the consequences for breaking the covenant, then what is his point?
In previous studies, we have learned about a group of people influencing the Galatian God-Fearers. The influencers have a theological assumption that only those who are legally Jewish (Israel proper) have standing in the kingdom of heaven and a guaranteed share in the world to come. Nevertheless, they are believers. More than that, they themselves are probably Gentile converts to Judaism who have taken on the so-called "works of the law." They have gone "under the law" and have become Jewish. The influencers, as I understand them, were themselves believing proselytes, and they pressured the believing, God-fearing Gentiles to also become proselytes.
They did not teach salvation through faith. Neither did they teach salvation by works. They taught salvation by Jewish status, a status which they attained by going through circumcision and taking on the commandments that identify a person as Jewish -the works of the law.
Many parallels exist within the Christian world. For example, traditionally, within the Roman Catholic confession, salvation is imparted through the sacraments, primarily the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. Through sacramental mechanism, a person attains recognized standing as a Christian. Without that standing as a Christian within the Catholic confession, one has no assurance of the world to come. Similar theologies exist in the other Christian confessions where one sacrament or another grants eligibility for heaven and the resurrection. In Evangelicalism, espousal of the proper theological belief system replaces the sacraments.
As with every human association, religion inevitably becomes an institution. When it does, those within the institution often assume that membership in their particular institution is a prerequisite to salvation. The Christian Fundamentalist does not anticipate encountering people from other denominations in heaven. In that mindset, doctrinal purity, the right confession, and the right set of beliefs defines a real Christian. Beyond achieving institutional membership, matters of obedience, personal devotion to God, commitment to his commands and directives, and so forth, are regarded as less consequential-certainly not inconsequential-but of less consequence. For example, consider the "cheap grace" -which Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote against in The Cost of Discipleship the idea that once a person is baptized, he is sealed for heaven regardless of his behavior.
The influencers in Galatia seem to have subscribed to a similar theological premise. They seem to have believed that, once a person goes though the conversion process and attains Jewish status, he is off the hook for the rest of the obligations. Once you are in Israel, you are in, and a Jew need not worry about the afterlife. This was not a theology of salvation by works. Neither was it salvation by grace. The influencers taught salvation by national identity and Jewish status within God's covenant with Israel.
One sees the same theological premises at work in the church. People often adopt the right rituals and say the right words, but then they live the rest of their lives in disregard for the demands of faith. Once in the club, they do not worry about the details and rules.
Sabbath Proselytes
Paul articulated his objection to this idea as he addressed the believers in Rome. In Romans 2, Paul addressed Gentiles who have already gone through the conversion ritual to become legally Jewish. They seem to be believing proselytes, not people from one of Paul's communities or the fruit of his gospel, but Gentile believers who had become proselytes, either before or after coming to know Messiah:
If vou call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth- you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? (Romans 2:17-22).
Paul warned the proselytes that being "Jewish" means nothing if one does not live according to the obligations of Torah. He said, "Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision" (Romans 2:25). He made the same charge against the influencers in Galatia:
For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the Torah, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. (Galatians 6:13)
"Those who are circumcised" refers to those who had gone through the proselyte conversion ritual and now are confirmed, so to speak. They felt that they had attained the status needed for their salvation, and therefore they did not need to worry about the particulars of obedience to Torah beyond those commandments which identified them as Jewish. Of course they keep the "works of the law" that identify them as Jewish, but the Torah contains more than just circumcision, Sabbaths, holy days, dietary laws, tzitzit, tefillin, and mezuzah.
This can be compared to the churchgoer who dutifully attends church, receives baptism, confirmation, affirms the confessions, and whatever other minimal hoops he needs to jump through to become part of the club and maintain his member status, but he never lets faith in God, his relationship with God, or the demands of God impact his real life in a significant way. When I was young, we used to call them "Sunday Christians." In Galatia, we could call them "Sabbath Proselytes.
Real Religion
If I am correct in this assessment, I think we can make better sense of Galatians 3:10, where Paul said, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." In other words, if you accept this covenant membership of conversion to become Jewish, you must also accept all of its national, covenantal obligations, including the imprecations for covenant infidelity. In other words, if you become Jewish, you are liable for the full weight of punishment spelled out by Torah if you do not keep the Torah. It's not a free ticket to heaven.
Real religion and real faith in God cannot be institutionalized or reduced to the level of membership status. True godliness transcends one's affiliation. Real religion and real relationship with God must be a fulltime endeavor. One cannot punch in and punch out from faith an more than one could punch out of marriage. No decent person thinks of their marriage that way-as if you are married at home, but when you leave the home, you are a single person with all of the romantic potential of a single person on the dating scene. Such a spouse would be sick in the head: an adulterer.
Instead, real religion requires a life of faith and faithfulness-an ever-present sense of the fear of God, the conviction that he is real, that he punishes sin and rewards righteousness, that there is "an eye that sees, and ear that hears, and all your deeds are recorded in a book" (m.Avot 2:1). Real faith is the practical outworking of the conviction that God is present with us and holding us accountable, even when we are not in church, even when we are not in the synagogue, even when no one is watching.
The influencers, however, taught confidence in ritual, institutional status. They neglected the weighty obligations of Torah and focused on the external boundary markers. Paul said, 'They do not themselves keep the Torah, and now they are trying to get you to join their members-only club.' He warned, 'Don't you realize that there are serious biblical consequences to that decision?' He said in Galatians 5:3, "I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law." That is to say, if you become Jewish, you will be obligated to keep the whole Torah, not just the "works of the law."
What is the Curse of the Law?
In this interpretation, the curse of the law is not something new. It refers to the maledictions against the people of Israel for violation of the Torah's commandments. Deuteronomy 28 spells out those curses.
Paul warned the God-fearing Galatian Gentiles that becoming Jewish brings serious responsibilities. As a Jew himself, Paul understood himself to also be included under the same curses for covenant disobedience as the rest of his people. One cannot take the blessings and leave the curses; they come in tandem.
The God-fearing Gentiles of Galatia, however, stood outside of the legal, national covenantal identity of Israel-proper. The litany of curses in the Torah did not apply to them in the national sense as they applied to the Jewish people. If, however, they chose to take on Jewish identity, they needed to also take on the full weight of Jewish responsibility.
Referneces
This lesson was curated from teachings from First Fruits of Zion “Holy Epistle to the Galatians.”