GALATIANS 3:13, CURSED IS EVERYONE THAT HANGS ON A TREE

/ Michael Battle

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. ~ Galatians 3:13-14

Some have taken Galatians 3:13 (referenced above) which says that Jesus was made to be a curse for us to support their claims that Jesus became the object of God’s righteous wrath when he died for our sins. 

Those who teach such things often present the cross in a manner as if what actually happened to Jesus in the flesh wasn’t sufficient, and therefore some other manner of suffering or torture was needed, such as God punishing Jesus by spiritually condemning him as a substitution. 

However, Paul qualifies his declaration that Christ was made a curse for by saying, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

According to Paul, Christ was made a curse for us in the manner in which he suffered physically on the cross. Paul tells the Galatians, Christ was made a curse by hanging on a tree. There is no mention by Paul of God’s wrath being poured out. In fact, Paul says this within the context of justification by faith in contrast to the works of the law. So Paul’s statement has to do is how we are justified in view of the Law and faith.

Under the Law it was the corpses of those who had already been executed then hanged on a tree, which were cursed. In Galatians 3:1 Paul says, “Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.” The dead body of Jesus hanging on the cross absorbed the curse of the law and serves as payment for our sins against God.

Christ’s death frees us from the condemnation which comes through the law because Jesus absorbed the sentence of death for us so that we could be justified from our sins through faith in him. Paul appeals to the Galatians according to what actually happened out in the open at the cross, and not by some behind the scene exchange whereby God needed to be appeased as those with pagan false gods believe.

In contrast, the crucified body of Jesus Christ is the emblem of our redemption. Jesus sacrificed his body for our sins, and through his slain body which was hanged on a tree, we are free from the curse of the Law. He was made a curse by bearing the penalty for our sin (death) in his own body on the cross. The writer of Hebrews tells us, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. ~ Hebrews 10:5-10

Christ was made a curse in that his body was crucified, not by God’s righteous judgment condemning him. Jesus was just in the sight of God. According to the Bible, Jesus was denied justice and suffered unjustly at the hands of sinful men. God’s justice was displayed when God vindicated Jesus and raised him from the dead.

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:. ~ Romans 1:3-4

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 13:4

When God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him at his own right hand, he overturned the verdict of sinful men. Now, all who believe in him have their sins remitted and become heirs of the blessing God promised Abraham through the Spirit.

5 thoughts on “GALATIANS 3:13, CURSED IS EVERYONE THAT HANGS ON A TREE”

  2. Hello,

    I think Paul is referring to Deuteronomy 21:23 in this passage. The reference makes clear that the one who is hanged on a tree is “accursed of God.” How could this not be seen as the wrath of God, on Christ, for our sin?

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    • Hello Jen, and thanks for the comment. In Deuteronomy 21:23, the hanging on a tree was not the form of execution. This is critical to not misinterpreting this text. As pointed out in the article, the one who was cursed in Deuteronomy 21 was the one whose body was hung on as tree after the execution. This punishment was carried our by the people, not the wrath of God, so the reference does not mean that God poured out his wrath on Jesus while he was alive on the cross. The one who was hanged on a tree in Deuteronomy was said to be “cursed by God.” Keep in mind this is referring to the carcass and the dead carcass served as a statement of God’s judgment to the people and was not to remain on the tree after sundown. In like manner Jesus’s who was was accepted by God as sweet fragrance was made a curse in that his crucified body hanged openly on a tree as the sign of God’s judgment that the wages of sin is death, and in keeping with the scripture was removed from the cross before sundown. The dying Christ did not suffer God’s wrath. According to scripture it was by the grace of God he tasted death for every man and God was in Christ reconciling the world. The ideology that claims that Jesus died under the wrath of God comes from pagan origins of appeasement but is not the Holy God of the scriptures. Had God poured out his wrath on Jesus, that would have meant that he rejected the sacrifice of his Son rather than accepted him. Jesus bore our sins as an innocent lamb whom God accepted as our sacrifice for atonement. God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead. If God had poured out his wrath on Jesus then the resurrection would only be an after thought, but the resurrection was God’s vindication of his Son who was unjustly condemned by sinful men.

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      • God was not the one who condemned Jesus, sinful men were the ones who did that. Jesus was betrayed into the hands of sinful men. Here is a link to my overall teachings on the cross. In this you will get a clearer understanding of what I teach. Blessings.

        THE CROSS

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  3. If we are going to say that Jesus was cursed by God we then have to say that God cursed the atoning sacrifice for our sins and that should make our stomach turn even saying such a thing. Jesus was not cursed by God as he died on the cross, but the manner in which he died at the hands of sinful men was as one accursed, thus he was made to be a curse for us.

    This does not mean that God in Heaven was actively rejecting him as an accursed thing. Jesus was holy, he was God’s beloved Son, laying down his life in perfect obedience to the will of the Father, dying as one who was accused and this was carried out by the hands of sinful men. It was sinful men who put him to such a shameful death, and Jesus endured it because of the love, mercy, and grace of God. 

    The same Paul who tells us that Jesus was made to be a curse for us preached the following in Acts 13.

    For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead… ~ Acts 13:27 -28 

    We must be careful that we do not take Paul’s teachings in his epistles regarding the cross and place them into a narrative contrary to the one given to us in the gospels and the book of Acts. Those who promote such interpretations of scripture turn Jesus’s death on the cross into a transition (a divine exchange) rather than the Biblical view which is relational. Jesus was God in human flesh suffering unjustly because of the divine love that was in Christ for us.

    Notice that Paul says, when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead…

    Who fulfilled all that was written of him? They did. Who are “they” a reference to? Those that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers. Paul says, “because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.”

    This unjust death at the hands of sinful men is the curse whereby Jesus was made a curse for us. He was unjustly condemned for us, but willingly subjected himself to such to demonstrate the love of God in human flesh so that all who would believe would have eternal life.

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