Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written… The law consists of two parts: a system of precepts, and the sanction and enforcement of those precepts by promises and threatenings. According to the first, it is the rule of our obedience, and shows what we ought to render unto God. According to the second, it is the rule of Divine justice, and shows what God will render unto us. I. THE SANCTION OF THIS LAW IS TWOFOLD. First: A promise of life and happiness to the observers of it (Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:12; Ezekiel 20:11). Second: Threatenings of a most heavy and tremendous curse against all that transgress it; a curse that will blast and wither their souls for ever. 1. What the apostle means by those who are "of the works of the law." To be of the works of the law signifies no other than to expect justification and eternal happiness by legal works; to depend wholly on our obedience unto and observation of the law, to render us acceptable to God and worthy of eternal life. Those, who thus rely on a legal righteousness, are said to be of the works of the law; as persons are said to be of such or such a party, because they stiffly defend the cause of the law; and stand for justification by the observance of it, in opposition to the grace of the gospel, and the way of obtaining justification and eternal life by believing. 2. What it is to be accursed. So that the true and proper notion of a curse is this: That it is the denunciation or execution of the punishment contained in the law, in order to the satisfaction of Divine justice for transgressing the precepts of it. (1) Some, therefore, are only under the curse denounced. And so are all wicked men, whose state is prosperous in this life, though they flourish in wealth and honour, and float in ease and pleasure; yet are they liable to all that woe and wrath, with which the threatenings of the law stand charged against them. (2) Some are under the curse already executed. And so are all wicked men, on whom God begins to take vengeance and exact satisfaction in the miseries and punishments which He inflicts on them in this life, II. You see, then, WHAT AN UNIVERSAL CURSE these words denounce; a curse that sets "its mouth and dischargeth its thunder against all the sinful sons of Adam. A curse it is which, as Zechariah speaks (Zechariah 5:3), "goeth forth over the face of the whole earth;" and will, if mercy rebate not the edge of it, cut off on every side all those that stand in its way; that is, all that are sinners, and all are so; for the characters which the apostle doth here give to those who are under the curse of the law are so general and comprehensive, that no man living could possibly escape if God should judge him according to the conditions of the covenant of works. 1. It is said that every one is accursed that doth not those things which are written in the book of the law. And this is a curse that cuts off on both sides. On this side it cuts off those who are but negatively righteous, who ground all their hopes for heaven and happiness upon what they have not done and put into the inventory of their virtues that they have not been vicious, no ex. tortioners, no unjust persons, no adulterers, etc., but, alas! this account will not pass in the day of reckoning; the law requires thee not only to forbear the gross acts of sin but to perform the duties of obedience. And it cuts off on that side all those who have done contrary to what is written in the law. 2. Those, also, who have not done all that is written in the law are struck with this anathema or curse. And where is the man that dares lift up his face to justify himself against this charge? 3. But suppose that, at some time or other, thou shouldst have performed every particular duty; yet, hast thou continued in all things that are written in the law to do them? Hast thou spun an even thread of obedience? Are there no flaws, no breaks, no breaches in it? Hast thou been always constant in the highest fervour of thy zeal for God? Hast thou been in the fear of the Lord all the days of thy life? Have thy affections never languished; thy thoughts never turned aside, so much as to glance upon vanity? Didst thou never drop one unsavoury word, nor do any one action which, both for the matter and manner of it, was not perfectly agreeable to the law? III. THIS CURSE IS MOST DREADFUL, if we consider that it is universal, and extends itself not only over all persons but unto all things. Everything which a sinner either doth or hath is accursed to him. 1. He is accursed in all his temporal enjoyments. His bread is kneaded and his drink mingled with a curse, his table becomes a snare to him, and every morsel he eats is dipped in the bitterness of God's wrath and curse. His very mercies are curses unto him; as, on the contrary, a true believer's afflictions are blessings. 2. He is accursed in all his spiritual enjoyments. And, oh, what a sad and dreadful curse is this that thou, who comest to hear the same word preached, which to ethers proves the savour of life unto life eternal, to thee, through the corruption and wickedness of thine own heart, it should prove the savour of death unto death eternal! 3. If all the favours of God's providence and all the dispensations of His grace; then, certainly, much more are all their chastisements and afflictions turned into curses. If there be poison in the honey, much more certainly is there in the sting. If God be wroth with them when He shines, much more when He frowns upon them. 4. In hell they shall be cursed to purpose, and lie for ever under the revenging wrath of God. Their sentence is, "Depart from me, ye cursed" (Matthew 25:41). Hell, indeed, is the general assembly of all curses and plagues. They are eternally cursed (1) In their separation from the sight and presence of God. (2) In the society of devils and damned spirits. (3) In the work of hell, which is blaspheming and cursing. (4) In the pains and torments which they must eternally suffer. IV. APPLICATION. 1. See what an accursed thing sin is that carries, wrapped up in its bowels, woe, wrath, and eternal death. 2. If every transgressor of the law be accursed, see, then, the desperate folly of those wretches who make light of sin, and account the commission of it a matter of small or no concern to them. 3. If every transgression exposes us to the curse, beware, then, that you never encourage yourself to commit any sin because the world accounts it but small and little. 4. See here, what reason we have to bless God for Jesus Christ, who has delivered us from the curse of the law. (E. Hopkins, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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