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Reply To: Responsive Reading Galatians 3:13

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#7546
JPalmer
Participant

Thank you for this question: It prompted me to look closer at this verse.

In the midst of the BibleHub commentary (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/galatians/3-13.htm) on this, the following verses are mentioned:

Deuteronomy 21:22-23
22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Taking this, and applying what I have learned of Christian Science here in Plainfield, it seems that we need to recognize that error (the “sin worthy of death”), expose it (“hang him on a tree”), and then move forward with God (“bury him that day”). As Mrs. Eddy wrote on page 355 of Miscellaneous Writings:

First, self-knowledge. … Error found out is two-thirds destroyed, and the last third pierces itself, for the remainder only stimulates and gives scope to higher demonstration.

And then going back to Galatians 3:13:

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

I feel that since “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law” we don’t need to live in shame from the error, or condemn ourselves for it. Each overcoming should be seen as a victory. Each obstacle an opportunity “that the works of God should be made manifest in [us].” (John 9:3)

A final word on this point, from Mrs. Eddy in the lesson:

13. 91
…the sooner error is reduced to its native nothingness, the sooner man’s great reality will appear and his genuine being will be understood.

I am very grateful that being a member of this church has given me the resources to find meaning in the Bible. What a blessing Plainfield is! Thank you!



Love is the liberator.