In Galatians 3:1-22 Christ is unveiled as the seed of Abraham. According to Genesis 22:17-18a the Lord promised Abraham, “I will surely bless you and will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” In this prophecy we have the promise that Abraham’s seed would be a great blessing to all mankind, for all nations would be blessed through his seed.
This prophecy was repeated to Isaac in Genesis 26:4 and again to Jacob in Genesis 28:14. These three verses are not three prophecies but one prophecy of Christ as the seed of Abraham. The fulfillment of this prophetic word is not only in Matthew 1:1, which says that Christ is the son of Abraham, but also in Galatians 3:16, which says, “To Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed. He does not say, And to the seeds, as concerning many, but as concerning one: ‘And to your seed,’ who is Christ.” Christ was born as a descendant of Abraham, born of the chosen race. Therefore, He was the seed of Abraham.
As the seed of Abraham, Christ in His humanity blesses all the nations with the gospel of Christ (vv. 8-12, 16). He has brought God to us and us to God for our enjoyment of God’s blessing. He brings blessings to the nations. Whether Jews or Gentiles, all will be blessed in Him (Gen. 22:18a). As we will see in this message, Galatians 3:14 indicates that the blessing is the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. When we receive the Spirit, we receive the Triune God as eternal life to be our blessing. Through faith in Christ, we have received the Spirit. The Spirit is also called the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29). When the blessing that God gave to Abraham comes to us, it is grace; this grace is the seed of Abraham. Since Christ is now the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), He is not only the seed who inherits the promises but also the blessing of the promises to be inherited by us.
According to Galatians 3:16, Christ is the seed of Abraham, the Heir who inherits the promises. Here Christ is the unique seed who inherits the promises. Hence, in order to inherit the promised blessing, we must be one with Christ. Outside of Him we cannot inherit the promises given by God to Abraham. In God’s eyes Abraham has only one seed, Christ. We must be in Him that we may participate in the promises given to Abraham.
According to Galatians 3:14, the promise given to Abraham was that God Himself would come to be the seed of Abraham, and this seed would be a blessing to all the nations by becoming the all-inclusive Spirit for mankind to receive (1 Cor. 15:45b). God’s blessing of Abraham eventually issued in Christ as the unique seed in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed (Acts 3:25-26; Gal. 3:16). All the believers in Christ, as members of the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), are included in this seed as the heirs of God’s promised blessing (Gal. 3:7, 29).
As the seed of Abraham, Christ in His humanity was crucified and became a curse on our behalf to redeem us out of the curse of the law. Galatians 3:1 mentions that Jesus Christ was crucified. Verse 13 goes on to say, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone hanging on a tree.’” Christ as our Substitute on the cross not only bore the curse for us but also became a curse for us. The curse of the law issued from the sin of man (Gen. 3:17). When Christ took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse of the law.
Through his fall, Adam brought us all under the curse; as fallen descendants of Adam, we the sinners were under the curse. The origin of the curse is man’s sin. God brought in the curse after Adam’s sin, saying, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (v. 17). The sign of the curse is thorns (v. 18). For this reason, after Adam’s sin, the earth brought forth thorns.
However, the curse was not altogether official until the law was given. The law now declares that all the fallen descendants of Adam are under the curse. In other words, the curse is carried out through the law. This means that the law administers the curse. Therefore, the curse is related to the law of God; it is the demand of the righteous God upon sinners.
Whereas the law condemns us and makes the curse official, Christ through His crucifixion has redeemed us out of the curse of the law. On the cross He was even made a curse for us. Therefore, the curse that came in through Adam’s fall has been dealt with by Christ’s redemption.
When Christ bore our sins, He also took our curse. The crown of thorns indicates this (John 19:2, 5). Since thorns are a sign of the curse, Christ’s wearing a crown of thorns indicates that He took our curse on the cross. Because Christ was cursed in our place, the demand of the law was fulfilled, and He could redeem us from the curse of the law.
Not only did Christ redeem us out from the curse; He even became a curse on our behalf. This indicates that He was absolutely abandoned by God. God forsook Christ economically and also considered Him a curse. On the cross Christ accomplished the great work of bringing us out from the curse of the law, working to bear our sins and to remove the curse.
In His creation of man, God intended that man might enjoy God as his blessing. But through the fall of Adam, man lost God as his blessing and enjoyment. Not only so, since man did not know that he was totally fallen, incurable, and hopeless, he tried to please God by his own effort. This forced God to decree the law in order to expose man’s fallen condition. Knowing that man could not keep the law, God gave man the law, not for him to keep it but for man to realize that he is utterly fallen and hopeless.
Here we need to see that before decreeing the law, God promised Abraham a blessing: Out of him would come a seed who would be a blessing not only to his own house, his race, but also to all the nations, all the Gentiles. With Adam we have sin and the curse, but with Abraham we have God’s promise. The background of this promise was the curse upon mankind. Because mankind was under a curse, man’s direction was downward. But God came in, called Abraham, and promised that in his seed, all the nations—mankind under a curse—would be blessed.
Yet the children of Israel did not realize that God’s intention was not for them to try to keep the law but to bring them back to the promise given to their forefather, Abraham, through the law. Because the children of Israel did not see that the function of the law was to expose their fallen condition and to restore them to the promised blessing, they tried to keep the law, thereby coming under the curse of the law (Deut. 27:15-26). The children of Israel, being fallen in nature, surely did not measure up to the law; thus, they were cursed under the law.
Through His incarnation Christ came as the seed of Abraham, and through His crucifixion Christ died on the cross to be a curse on our behalf. In doing so, Christ removed the curse from all those who believe in Him. Through His work on the cross, Christ became a curse on our behalf and redeemed us out of the curse of the law so that the blessing God promised to Abraham would be bestowed on all those who believe in Christ.
In Galatians 3:10 Paul says, “As many as are of the works of law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law to do them.’” If we try to keep the law, we will be in the flesh and automatically come under the curse, for those who are of the works of the law are under the curse. Instead of trying to keep the law, we should thank the law for exposing us and then bid it farewell. We should leave the law and go to Christ and to the cross.