📖 Galatians 3:13 

“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”),”

📜 Background, Setting & Purpose

✍️ Author:

Paul the Apostle

👥 Written To:

The churches of Galatia—Gentile believers being misled by Judaizers. And to all members of the body of Christ.

⏲️ When:

Around AD 49–50, likely Paul’s earliest epistle.

🔍 Setting & Purpose of Galatians:

Paul is responding to a theological crisis. Judaizers—Jewish believers from the Jerusalem church—had infiltrated the Galatian congregations and were insisting that Gentile believers must follow the Mosaic Law to be saved. This is clearly stated in Acts 15:1: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved,” and repeated again in Acts 15:5. Paul writes to rebuke this distortion of the gospel and affirm that salvation is by grace through faith, apart from works of the Law.

⚠️ The entire book is a defense of the gospel of grace and a declaration that we are not under law but under grace!

🔍 Galatians 3:13

“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”),”

✨ Phrase-by-Phrase Breakdown

“Christ has redeemed us…”

• The word “redeemed” (exēgorasen) means to buy out of slavery or rescue by payment.
• This is not theoretical—Christ’s death was the purchase price (1 Corinthians 6:20).
• “Us” refers to both Jews and Gentiles who are in Christ, particularly those burdened by the curse of the law (Galatians 4:4–5).

“…from the curse of the law…”

• The law itself is holy (Romans 7:12), but it brings a curse on those who fail to keep it perfectly (Deuteronomy 27:26).
• The curse includes judgment, condemnation, and death.
• Everyone who seeks righteousness by law is under this curse—because no one can fulfill it (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10).
• Christ came to free us from this impossible standard.

“…having become a curse for us…”

• This is substitutionary atonement in its most direct expression.
• Jesus didn’t just take the curse—He became the very embodiment of it on our behalf (Isaiah 53:5–6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
• He stood in our place, absorbing the full penalty of sin so we never have to.

“(for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)”

• Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 to prove that Jesus’ crucifixion fulfilled this law.
• In Jewish law, someone hung on a tree was seen as under divine judgment—cut off.
• Christ’s death on the cross wasn’t just execution—it was bearing the visible shame and curse that sin deserved (Hebrews 12:2).
  

❌ What This Verse Does Not Mean

• It does not mean the law is evil, the law is perfect—the law reveals sin (Romans 3:20).

• It does not teach that we are now free to live lawlessly—rather, we are now free to live in Christ by grace.

• It does not mean that Jesus became sinful—He became the sin offering, not a sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21).

⚠️ Many use Galatians as a prooftext for mixing grace with law—but this verse demolishes that idea.

✅ What It Does Mean

• Christ’s death satisfied the righteous demands of the law.

• The curse that was rightfully ours fell fully on Him.

• Believers are now free from the bondage of law-keeping as a means to righteousness.

• Righteousness is now by faith in Christ, not by works of the law (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:21).

🙏 Summary

This is the good news in one powerful verse:

You were cursed, condemned, and hopeless under the Law. But Jesus stepped into your place, bore the curse, and set you free.

Why would anyone run back to what Christ died to deliver them from?

Christ didn’t die to give you a second chance at law-keeping. He died to redeem you from it entirely.

We must not tolerate any message that brings believers back under the Law. Galatians 3:13 is a warning and a comfort: the curse is gone, because Christ bore it.

You are redeemed. Free. Justified. Righteous. Secure—in Christ.

And everybody said….Amen!