We saw in last month's issue that the cross of Christ was necessary to redeem mankind. It's interesting to note that the crucifixion of live criminals did not occur in the Old Testament. Execution was by stoning. However, dead bodies were occasionally hung on a tree as a warning.
NAB Deuteronomy 21:22-23 22If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his corpse hung on a tree, 23it shall not remain on the tree overnight. You shall bury it the same day; otherwise, since God's curse rests on him who hangs on a tree, you will defile the land which the LORD your God, is giving you as an inheritance.
Hung on a tree: some understand, "impaled on a stake." In any case, the hanging or impaling was not the means used to execute the criminal; he was first put to death by the ordinary means, stoning, and his corpse was then exposed on high as a warning for others.
The body that way hung on a tree was regarded as accursed.
Galatians 3:13 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:
Note the words being made a curse for us here in verse 13. They could also be translated having become a curse for us. Here we read that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. What was the curse of the law?
Galatians 3:10 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.
So even if you kept 99.99% of the law and blew it on .01%, you still came under the curse of the law. You see the end result of the law's justice was death. It was a no-win situation. Every time someone started to approach God, Satan would try to trip them up. And when they blew it (and all men blow it), Satan would then put it in God's face.
He would accuse them before God and say, "Under section 2, paragraph A of the law, so and so blew it." So, you see, the only way to be released from the law was death. Once you are dead, the law has no hold over you any more.
You see, no one could keep the law, so the only way to be free from the law was death. But, the good news is instead of requiring our death, God provided a substitute for us, Jesus Christ.
NJB Romans 8:3 What the Law could not do because of the weakness of human nature, God did, sending his own Son in the same human nature as any sinner to be a sacrifice for sin, and condemning sin in that human nature.Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
So, the only way out was death. Once a person died, the law had no more dominion over them.
NLT Romans 7:1-4 1Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
All this was accomplished by the cross of Christ. We were freed by the cross of Christ and his shed blood. This is a very important truth and it's all contained in the knowledge and the accomplished work of the cross.
You see, once you were taught the truth regarding the cross of Christ and its corresponding results, you could walk in freedom. You would be set free from guilt and condemnation and the law. No longer would the law be required to obtain God's righteousness.
II Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The first century church had this knowledge of the cross of Christ. They knew about the righteousness of God and the freedom it produced in the lives of the one who believed and walked by the spirit of God. This was true freedom and liberty. Whenever you let anyone touch the cross of Christ in your life, you have the makings of a catastrophic disaster.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. -John 8:36
There are many things that churches will teach as doctrine. I have been exposed to many different groups and have observed many strange practices. Such as the time I talked to a couple who sold their beautiful suburban home and moved their family to the poor section of town where crime and drugs were on every corner.
The reason they did this was because their minister told them that they had to suffer and live a life of suffering to please God. You see, when you talk people out of the accomplished works of the cross, you open Pandora's box spiritually. It seems sometimes the hardest thing for the church to accept is the truth that Jesus Christ set us free from the law, or any law, that requires you to perform or work so you will be righteous before God.
If man could do anything to accomplish his own salvation then what's the point of the cross?
This is the very thing that Paul confronted in the book of Galatians.
Galatians 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
When ever a group departs from the accomplished work of Christ they will begin to produce works of salvation. This kind of false doctrine will be governed by man-made rules and regulation. In our next issue, we will consider the scriptures on this topic.ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NLT indicates the New Living Translation, NAS indicates the New American Standard version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, NJB means the New Jerusalem Bible, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.