"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone that hangs 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” (Gal. 3:13, 14).
The curse of the law, all the curse that ever was or ever can be, is simply because of sin. This is powerfully illustrated in Zech. 5:1-4. The prophet beheld a “flying role; the length thereof . . .twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” Then the Lord said to him: “This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth.” That is, this roll represents all the curse that is upon the face of the whole earth.
And what is the cause of this curse over the face of the whole earth? —Here it is: “For every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it.” That is, this roll is the law of God, and one commandment is cited from each table, showing that both tables of the law are included in the roll. Every one that steals—everyone that transgresses the law in the things of the second table—shall be cut off as on this side of the law according to it; and every one that swears—everyone that transgresses in the things of the first table of the law—shall be cut off as on that side of the law according to it.
Thus the heavenly recorders do not need to write out a statement of each particular sin of every man; but simply to indicate on the roll that pertains to each man, the particular commandment that is violated in each transgression. That such a roll of law does go with every man wherever he goes and even abides in his house, is plain from the next words: “I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house.” And unless a remedy shall be found, there that roll of the law will remain until the curse shall consume that man, and his house, “with timber thereof and the stones thereof;” that is, until the curse shall devour the earth in that great day when the very elements shall melt with fervent heat. For “the strength of sin” and the curse “is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56).
But, thanks be to God, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). All the weight of the curse came upon him, for “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). He was made “to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). And whosoever receives him, receives freedom from all sin, and freedom from the curse because free from all sin.