HE WAS MADE A CURSE FOR US.
FOURTH. As he was made flesh under the law, and also sin, SO HE WAS MADE A CURSE FOR US—'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.' This sentence is taken out of Moses, being passed there upon them that for sin is worthy of death—' And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death. Thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in anywise bury him that day, for he that is hanged is accursed of God (Deut 21:22,23). By this sentence, Paul concluded that Jesus Christ was justly hanged because sin worthy of death was upon him; sin, not of his own, but ours. Since, then, he took our sins, he must be cursed of God; for sin is sin wherever it lies, and justice is justice wherever it finds it; wherefore since Jesus Christ will bear our sin, he must be 'numbered with the transgressors,' and counted worthy to die the death.
He that committeth sin is worthy of death. Though Christ did not personally do this, his members, his body, which is his church, did, and since he would undertake for them with God and stand in their sins before the eyes of his justice, he must die the death by the law.
Sin and the curse cannot be severed. Sin must be followed by the curse of God. Therefore, sin, being removed from us to the back of Christ, also goes the curse; if sin be found upon him, he is the person worthy to die—worthy of our sins.
Therefore, Paul here set forth Christ clothed with our sins, taking from us the guilt and punishment. What punishment but the wrath and displeasure of God? 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.'
In this word, 'curse' are two things comprised,
1. The reality of sin; for there can be no curse where there is no sin, either of the person's own or made to be his by his own consent or the imputation of Divine justice. And since sins are made to be Christ's by imputation, they are his, though not naturally, yet really, and consequently the wages due. He hath made him sin; he was made a curse for us.
2. The word 'curse' is comprised, therefore, of the punishment of sin, that punishment properly due to sin from the hand of God's justice, which is a punishment that stands in three things: (1.) In charging sin upon the body and soul of the person concerned, we read that both the body and soul of Christ 'were made an offering for sin' (Isa 53:10; Heb 10:10). (2.) The punishment stands in God's inflicting of the just merits of sin upon him that stand charged in addition to that, and that is death in its own nature and strength; to wit, death with the sting thereof—'The sting of death is sin.' This Christ died because he died for our sins. (3.) The sorrows and pains of this death, therefore, must be undergone by Jesus Christ.
Now, there are divers sorrows in death—such sorrows as brutes are subject to; such sorrows as persons are subject to that stand in sin before God; such sorrows as those who are swallowed up of the curse and wrath of God forever.
Now, so much of all kinds of sorrow as the imputation of our sin could justly bring from the hand of Divine justice, so much of it he had. He had died. He had the sting of death, which is sin. He was forsaken of God but could not by any means have those sorrows they have that are everlastingly swallowed up of them. 'It was not possible that he should be holden of it' (Acts 2:24).
For where sin is charged and borne, there must, of necessity, follow the wrath and curse of God. Now where the wrath and curse of God is, there must of necessity follow the effects, the natural effects—I say, the natural effects—to wit, the sense, the sorrowful sense of the displeasure of an infinite Majesty, and his chastisements for the sin that hath provoked him. There are effects natural and effects accidental; those accidental are such as flow from our weakness while we wrestle with the judgment of God—to wit, hellish fear, despair, rage, blasphemy, and the like; these were not incident to Jesus Christ, he being in his own person every way perfect. Neither did he always endure the natural effects; his merits relieved and delivered him. God loosed the pains of death 'because it was not possible that he should be held of it.'
Christ then was made a curse for us, for he did bear our sin; the punishment, therefore, from the revenging hand of God must fall upon him.
By these four things, we see how Christ became our Saviour—he took hold of our nature, was born under the law, was made to be sin, and the accursed of God for us. And observe it—all this, as I said before, was the handiwork of God. God made him flesh, made him under the law, God made him to be sin, and also a curse for us. The Lord bruised him, the Lord put him to grief, the Lord made his soul an offering for sin (Isa 53:10). Not for that he hated him, considering him in his own harmless, innocent, and blessed person, for he was daily his delight; but by an act of grace to us-ward, were our iniquities laid upon him, and he in our stead was bruised and chastised for them. God loved us and made him a curse for us. He was made a curse for us, 'that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through [faith in] Jesus Christ' (Gal 3:14).
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