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:
He breaks away abruptly from those who would involve us again in the course of the law, by seeking justification in it, to "Christ." The "us" refers primarily to the JEWS, to whom the law principally appertained (cf. Galatians 4:3-4). But it is not restricted to the Jews, for these are the representative people of the world. The curse of the non-fulfillment of the law affects the Gentiles through the Jews; for the law represents that righteousness which God requires of all-which, since the Jews failed to fulfil, the Gentiles must equally fail. Galatians 3:10, "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse," refers not to the Jews only, but to all, even Gentiles (as the Galatians). The universal law, represented by the Masaic law, condemned the Gentiles, though with less clear consciousness on their part, (Romans 2:1-29) God's 'wrath,' revealed by the law of conscience, prepared them for appreciating redemption from the law's curse through Christ. The curse had to be removed from off them as well as the Jews, that the blessing through Abraham might flow to them. "That we might receive the promise of the Spirit" (Galatians 3:14) refers to both Jews and Gentiles.
Redeemed us - ransomed, bought us off from our former bondage (Galatians 4:5), and "the curse" under which all lie who trust to the law for justification. The Gentile Galatians, by putting themselves under it, were involving themselves in the curse from which Christ redeemed the Jews primarily, and through them the Gentiles. The ransom-price was his own precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19: cf. Matthew 20:28; Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Timothy 2:6; 2 Peter 2:1; Revelation 5:9).
Being made, х genomenos (G1096)] - 'having become.'
A curse for us - having become what we were, in our behalf х huper (G5228) heemoon (G2257): Philemon 1:13 sanctions also 'in our stead'], "a curse," that we might cease to be it. Not merely accursed, but a curse, bearing the curse of the whole human race. 'He was called a curse for my sake who does away my curse' (Gregory Nazianzene). So 2 Corinthians 5:21, "sin for us;" not sinful, but bearing the whole sin of our race, regarded as one vast aggregate (see note). 'Anathema' means 'set apart to God's glory,' but to the person's own destruction; "curse" х Katara (G2671)] is an execration.
Written (Deuteronomy 21:23). Christ's bearing the particular curse of hanging on the cross is a sample of the general curse which He representatively bore. Not that the Jews hanged malefactors; but after having put them to death otherwise, to brand some with ignominy, they hung the bodies on a piece of wood, not on a tree х xulou (G3586), 'Aleph (')] (cf. Genesis 22:6), not by the neck, but by the hands: such criminals were accursed (cf. Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39). God's providence ordered it that Jesus should hang on the cross by His hands and feet, so as to be a "curse for us," though that death was not a Jewish mode of execution. The Jews, in contempt, call Him 'the hanged one' х tolwiy (H8518)], and Christians, 'worshippers of the hanged one;' and make it their great objection that He died the accursed death (Trypho, in Justin Martyr, p. 249; 1 Peter 2:24). Hung between heaven and each as though unworthy of either.