Please taken the time to read Galatians 3:6-14. In answering the charges of the legalistic teachers who bound circumcision and the keeping of the law upon Christians, Paul defends justification by faith alone by pointing out that Jesus became a curse for us.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (13-14)

Salvation by works demands perfect and complete obedience. While there have always been those who claim that such is not only necessary but possible, when we are honest with our hearts and lives, and when we realize the holiness of God, we know that it is impossible. Unless we keep God's law flawlessly, we rest under its curse. No one can keep the law perfectly; hence, all are under the curse. Paul alludes to this fact when he writes, "Clearly no one is justified before God by the law…" (verse 11).

Man's case before God then falls into a hopeless dilemma. He cannot be saved apart from perfect obedience, and he lacks the moral ability, since the Fall, of attaining that perfect compliance with law. Thus we are totally and completely dependent upon our Mediator. If it were otherwise, if we could attain perfect obedience and this righteousness through the law, then truly "Christ died for nothing" (Galatians 2:21).

Christ became a curse, fulfilling even the statement of the law that one who hangs on a tree is cursed. He bore the dreadful curse of God's complete wrath for our sins. God accepted this substitutionary punishment. Two consequences now flow inevitably:

One, any act of obedience on our part designed to obtain a righteous standing before God is not only unnecessary but a denial of the perfect substitutionary, atoning, finished work of Christ.

Second, if Christ became a curse for us in our place, and bore the wrath of God for us, then, having believed in Him, we shall never face such a curse, never experience God's wrath, and we should never live in fear of such a thing happening. Understanding the atonement of Christ thus becomes cause for great rejoicing, freedom, and relief!