Galatians 3:13

Χριστὸς. The absence of a connecting particle emphasises the greatness of this glad contrast (Colossians 2:20 note). Cf. Titus 3:4-7. Probably “Christ” here has its full meaning of “Messiah,” if, as it seems, St Paul is thinking of Jews.

ἡμᾶς. This also by its position has a secondary emphasis. He means “us Jews” (he thinks of Gentiles in Galatians 3:14, as in Galatians 4:5) who as being ἐξ ἔργων νόμον were under a curse (Galatians 3:10).

ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τ. κατάρας τ. νόμον. Galatians 4:5 note; Colossians 4:5 note. The prepositions lay stress on the fact that we were in the curse.

γενόμενος (“by becoming”) ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα. We should not have dared to apply such a term to Christ, and our tendency still is to minimize its meaning. But while we must be careful not to extend this unduly we cannot exaggerate its intensity. Christ did know in awful reality the effect of sin in separating from God (Matthew 27:46). Elsewhere St Paul says that He was made ἁμαρτία (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became an awful example of the inexorable rigour of the Law.

ὑπὲρ not ἀντί, though Christ Himself says that He came to give τ. ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λὐτρον� (Mark 10:45 || Matthew 20:28), and St Paul says that He gave Himself ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων (1 Timothy 2:6), these being the only places in the N.T. where ἀντί is used in any combination with reference to the atonement (see below). Thus St Paul avoids here and elsewhere the question, so dear to Protestant controversialists, of the manner in which the redemption acted. ἀντὶ ἡμῶν would more readily have suggested (though it would not have required) the meaning that He bore the exact equivalent of the punishment due to sinners. “A curse for our sake” is vaguer, and perhaps more suitable to our limited intelligence of the stupendous self-sacrifice on the cross.

Epiphanius says οὐκ αὐτὸς κατάρα γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν� (Haer. LXXVII. p. 424: in Suicer, s.v. κατάρα). Chrysostom draws out the meaning of the Apostles’ language when he writes: καθάπερ τινὸς καταδικασθέντος�, ἒτερος�, ἐξαρπάζει τῆς τιμωρίας αὐτόν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησεν.

On the possibility, however, that ὑπέρ may contain some thought of “instead of” see note at Philemon 1:13, with its illustration from the papyri, and Ell. here, also Galatians 1:4; Galatians 2:20 notes. Meyer says that this does not lie in the preposition but in the circumstances of the case. See further A. T. Robertson, Short Grammar, p. 124.

ὅτι. Proof that κατάρα is true. γέγραπται Ἐπικατάρατος (Galatians 3:10) πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου. From the LXX. of Deuteronomy 21:23, which however has ὑπιὸ θεοῦ after ἐπικατάρατος in accordance with the Hebrew. The curse must have been in fact ὑπὸ θεοῦ for it to have been of any validity, but St Paul naturally shrinks from saying so. Of course Deuteronomy 21:23 does not refer to crucifixion or impaling alive, but to the hanging or impaling of a dead body (Joshua 10:26; 2 Samuel 4:12) as an additional disgrace. St Paul, however, does not quote the passage to illustrate the mode of death, but the place on which a person hangs.

The above rendering of the Hebrew (lit. “he that is hanged is a curse of God”) is essentially also that of Aquila and Theodotion (κατάρα θεοῦ κρεμάμενος), and is doubtless right, but it is possible for the Hebrew to mean “is a curse, i.e. an insult, to God.” So many Jewish authorities. Rashi, for example, says “It is a slight to the King, because man is made in the likeness of His image.” The same objective construction underlies the words of Josephus, Ant. IV. 8. 6 (§ 202), ὁ δὲ βλασφημήσας θεὸν καταλευσθεὶς κρεμάσθω διʼ ἡμέρας καὶ�. See further Lightfoot’s additional note, p. 150, and Driver on Deut.

ἐπὶ ξύλου. So Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:29; 1 Peter 2:24.

Elsewhere in the N.T., with the exception of its use in the phrase [τὸ] ξύλον [τῆς] ζωῆς, ξύλον always means dead wood. And so probably here, in accordance with Jewish law for a gibbet (see Jewish Encyclopedia III. 557).