Galatians 3:13

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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").

Galatians 3:13 (NKJV)

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 pole."

Galatians 3:13 (NIV)

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.

Galatians 3:13 (KJV)

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."

Galatians 3:13 (NLT)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, f or it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree."

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, f or it is written: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."

Galatians 3:13 (NASB)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Christ purchased our freedom and redeemed us from the curse of the Law and its condemnation by becoming a curse for us, f or it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (cross)."

Galatians 3:13 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified).

Galatians 3:13 (AMPC)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse.

Galatians 3:13 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

Exagorazo: Purchased Out of the Market Permanently

The Greek exagorazo, translated "redeemed," comes from the language of the slave market. Agorazo means to buy in the marketplace. The prefix ex means out of. Exagorazo is to purchase someone out of the market and remove them from it entirely, not simply to buy them while leaving them on the shelf. Christ did not purchase you to leave you in the slave market of the curse. He purchased you out of it. You are no longer for sale. The transaction is complete and the removal is total.

He Became the Curse So You Would Not Have to Be

Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," to show that the cross itself was the mechanism of substitution. The curse of the law (outlined in Deuteronomy 28:15-68: poverty, sickness, failure, death) was absorbed by Christ when He was hung on the cross as an accursed thing. He did not merely pay a fine. He became what we were. The full weight of the curse landed on Him so that it would not land on those who are in Him. This is the core of substitutionary atonement: not just forgiveness of sins but the exchange of curse for blessing.

Verse 14 is the completion of verse 13: "that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." The redemption from the curse is not an end in itself. It is the clearing of the ground for the Abrahamic blessing to come in. The curse occupied the space where the blessing belongs. Christ's removal of the curse makes room for the full blessing of Abraham: righteousness, covenant relationship, and the fullness of the Spirit. Galatians 3:13-14 is one sentence in the Greek: the curse removed so the blessing arrives.

Application for Your Life

The Curse Has No Legal Standing Over You

Galatians 3:13 is the biblical answer to any teaching that sickness, poverty, or failure are sent by God as a curse or judgment on believers. Christ has redeemed you from the curse. That redemption is past tense (aorist in Greek: completed action). The curse is not your portion. It is not your discipline. It is not your inheritance. It was paid for at the cross and you have been purchased out of it. When symptoms of the curse appear in your life, Galatians 3:13 gives you the legal ground to stand on: I have been redeemed from this.

Blessing Is Now Your Inheritance, Not Your Achievement

The blessing of Abraham flows to you through the same mechanism as the redemption from the curse: Christ and faith. You did not earn your way out of the curse and you do not earn your way into the blessing. Both come as the result of what Christ has done and your union with Him by faith. This means the blessing is as reliable as the redemption. If you are redeemed from the curse (v. 13), then the blessing of Abraham is yours in Christ Jesus (v. 14). These two truths stand or fall together.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I stand on Galatians 3:13 today. Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law. He became a curse so I do not have to carry one. I renounce every manifestation of the curse in my life: every pattern of sickness, poverty, failure, and condemnation that has tried to make its home in me. It has no legal standing. Christ purchased me out of the curse market completely. I receive the blessing of Abraham in its place: righteousness, covenant favor, and the fullness of Your Spirit. The exchange has already been made at the cross. I receive my side of it today. In Jesus' name. Amen.