Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law
The Redeemer is Christ, the Son of God; who was appointed and
called to this work by his Father, and which he himself agreed
to; he was spoken of in prophecy under this character; he came as
such, and has obtained eternal redemption, for which he was
abundantly qualified; as man, he was a near kinsman, to whom the
right of redemption belonged; and as God, he was able to
accomplish it. The persons redeemed are "us", God's elect, both
of Jews and Gentiles; a peculiar people, the people of Christ,
whom the Father gave unto him; some out of every kindred, tongue,
people, and nation: the blessing obtained for them is redemption;
a buying of them again, as the word signifies; they were his
before by the Father's gift, and now he purchases them with the
price of his own blood, and so delivers them "from the curse of
the law"; its sentence of condemnation and death, and the
execution of it; so that they shall never be hurt by it, he
having delivered them from wrath to come, and redeemed from the
second death, the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. The
manner in which this was done was by being
made a curse for us;
the sense of which is, not only that he was like an accursed
person, looked upon as such by the men of that wicked generation,
who hid and turned away their faces from as an abominable
execrable person, calling him a sinner, a Samaritan, and a devil;
but was even accursed by the law; becoming the surety of his
people, he was made under the law, stood in their legal place and
stead and having the sins of them all imputed to him, and
answerable for them, the law finding them on him, charges him
with them, and curses him for them; yea, he was treated as such
by the justice of God, even by his Father, who spared him not,
awoke the sword of justice against him, and gave him up into his
hands; delivered him up to death, even the accursed death of the
cross, whereby it appeared that he was made a curse: "made", by
the will, counsel, and determination of God, and not without his
own will and free consent; for he freely laid down his life, and
gave himself, and made his soul an offering for sin:
for it is written.
( Deuteronomy 21:23 ) ,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree:
it is in the Hebrew text, (ywlt) , "he that is hanged": which is the very name
the Jews
F25 Vid. Buxtorf. Lexic. Talmudie. col.
2596.
F26 R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 89.
p. 469.