The Curse of the Law? Another look at Galatians 3:10

Many Christians come to the epistles of the Apostle Paul with a serious lack of discernment and depth and breadth of understanding which leads them to make some very critical errors of interpretation.

Admittedly, the translators of most modern versions have done them no favour, as these translations show considerable bias and a lack of discernment as well!

Galatians 3:10 is a classic example. Here’s a standard translation:

“ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written,“Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” – ESV

Note the reference to the Tanakh and in particular to the Books of Moses (The Torah, also called the ‘Book of the Law’).

The quote is from Deuteronomy 27:26. But here is how the ESV translates Deut 27:26: “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ 

This is also very similar to the Stern’s version in the Complete Jewish Bible: “A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice. …” – Deut 27:26 CJB

So let’s be a little more consistent than the ESV, by replacing the quote with the CJB version:

“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written,“ “A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.” – Gal 3:10.

As I have explained in detail in my book “Defending the Apostle Paul: Weighing the Evidence”, I believe that the phrase ‘works of the law’ does not convey the idea of ‘observing Torah’ at all.

However, to help illustrate the problem here, consider for a moment that the Apostle Paul did in fact mean ‘obeying the law/Torah’ when he wrote ‘works of the law’. That is, let's assume by ‘works of the law’ that he did mean the actual practice of the law – obeying it’s commandments.

So Galatians 3:10 paraphrased with this (false) understanding then reads: “For all who rely on obeying the Torah, or putting the Torah into practice are under a curse; for it is written,“A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.”
Clearly this can NOT be the correct interpretation, as this phrase completely contradicts itself!

You may need to read this a few times! It is self-contradictory!

It states that you are cursed if you practice Torah, because all who DON’T practice Torah are cursed! 

And this (false) interpretation is of course in great conflict, not only with the very words of the Torah, and of Yeshua who called those who obey Torah his brothers and sisters (Matt 12:50), but also with a great many statements by the Apostle Paul himself, where he stated that the Torah and the commandments are holy and good (eg. Romans 7:12).

Again, for a much fuller picture, please see my book on the Apostle Paul.

So how should we interpret Galatians 3:10?

I offer two alternatives.

First, based on my understanding of the phrase ‘works of the law’ and second, based on the interpretation of the passage from the earliest Greek version (Papyri 46) by Uriel Ben Mordechai.

My argument is that ‘works of the law’ actually means ‘rites required for Jewish proselytizaton’, that is this phrase referred to the limited actions involved in a Gentile converting to Judaism and becoming Jewish.

See the appendix of my book for details – available separately herehttp://www.circumcisedheart.info/Works%20of%20the%20Law.pdf

Historically, it appears that this practice was being encouraged by Gentile ‘God-fearers’ who had themselves undertaken these rites. Then these Gentile converts (called Judaizers by the Apostle Paul), acted as if this was all that was required.

That is, many put great emphasis on these rites and the conversion, but the Apostle Paul was adamant that such actions alone were not enough. The true action(s) required was to actually obey the whole Torah, which is exactly what Deuteronomy 27:26 states.

So with this understanding we can see that Gal 3:10 now makes perfect sense (and it fits with the whole theme of Galatians as well). To paraphrase then, Gal 3:10 states that:

“For all who rely on just undertaking the Jewish rites of proselytization, so that they can become Jews, and do nothing more, are under a curse; for it is written,“ “A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.”. That is, being a Jew in and of itself is not enough. You must obey Torah.”

Alternatively, Uriel ben Mordechai is his translation, shows that the first part of this verse can be translated and understood very differently.

Here is his translation (the words in square brackets are added for clarification – they are not translated from the Greek):

“The truth is though, that as many [of you] who are removed [or out and away] from conduct set down in Torah — you are under a curse — inasmuch as it is written that [quote from D’varim 27:26], “cursed is the one who does not manifest [or show evidence of] the words of this Torah, [so as] to do them.” – Uriel Ben Mordechai (from ‘El ha’Galatim: From Tzi’yon Torah Goes Forth - an “old” translation of Rav Sha’ul’s letter to the Galatians’ - available from http://above-and-beyond-ltd.com/store/books/if.html ).

So in conclusion, both of these two possible alternative translations (and interpretations) highlight the core teaching of Yeshua and the Apostle Paul, that true faith is demonstrated through ‘doing’ or practicing Torah, not through some intellectual ascent, especially coupled to a lifestyle that is not Torah compliant.

Since publishing this short article I have had a number of interesting responses.

Firstly 'Eileen' wrote that:

“... the Greek word 'ek' translated as 'of' in 'works of (EK) the Law', also means “out of, from, by, away from, separated from”, so there is no grammatical reason that this must say 'works of the law' it can legitimately read 'works apart or separate from the law'. Since the Torah says very clearly that man IS justified by works of (dia) the law I opt for this latter translation.”

This is a plausible argument, and it is the approach that Uriel Ben Mordechai used in the translation I quoted. If we consider Romans 3:20 and use this understanding we get:

“For by works apart from the Torah no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the Torah comes knowledge of sin.”

Certainly, this seems very reasonable, as the Torah gives us the understanding of what is right and wrong(sin) and therefore gives us the knowledge that we need to obey Torah to to justified (made righteous). So clearly is we behave in a way separate of the opposite of the way of Torah, we can have no expectation of justification.

Uriel's translation of this Romans 3:20 using this approach certainly looks most reasonable:“...precisely because of the fact that apart [or away] from behavior associated with Torah, it will not be possible for any flesh to be recognized as upright before Him. As it happens, it’s through Torah that there is [even] awareness of sin.”

However, when I look at all of the places 'works of the law' is used in most translations of Romans and Galatians, and when I consider the overall theme of Galatians, and who the Judaizers were (as defined by Rav Sha'ul), I still find the weight of evidence supports the position that Prof. Nanos and I argue for.

As I mention in my Works of the Law', further evidence for the position I prefer is found in the DSS 4QMMT.

Another interesting question came from 'Daniel':

“So how did the gentiles come to faith who were not circumcised nor practiced the Sabbath & ate unclean meats? Yet in spite of this, Jesus baptizes them in holy spirit. How did you receive holy spirit? Through the works of the law (and if so which ones because i doubt you kept all)? Or through the hearing of the Gospel & responding in faith? “

Sadly there is much error in these questions from 'Daniel'.

Gentiles never came to faith and then ignored the Sabbath, etc. It appears that Daniel may have interpreted Colosssians 2:16 totally back to front. For some depth on this issue please see my article 'Col 2:16 and the Sabbath' - http://www.circumcisedheart.info/Col%202%20and%20the%20Sabbath.pdf

Yeshua (Jesus) never baptized Gentiles at any time, and certainly not Gentiles who were not Torah observant.

To repeat, 'works of the law' is NOT obeying Torah. As I pointed out, it is either 'the rites of proselytzation - to being Jewish', or mistranslated and should read 'NOT practicing Torah', that is doing works - separated - from Torah.

To hear the gospel and respond in faith means to be obedient to Torah. The Hebraic definition of faith is as Ya'acov (James) explains 'belief in action'. True faith is trusting in God, and hence obeying His Instructions (Torah).

Here's a little from my article on 'works of the law' that addresses the Gal 3:2 verse Daniel alluded to:

"Consider in the same manner Gal 3:2 “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”.
Appreciate, that to a Hebrew, ‘hearing with faith’ means doing.

To hear is to obey; the Sh’ma begins ‘Hear O’Israel, …’, meaning OBEY. To ‘hear with faith’ means to ‘obey through trusting God’ or to ‘trust God and His Word and obey’, that is ‘to trust Torah and obey’.
So, again substitute ‘doing the commandments of Torah’ for ‘works of the law’ in Gal 3:2 and you get: “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the commandments of Torah, or by trusting God and obeying (the Torah).”
To put it even more simply, it would read: ‘Did you receive the Spirit by obeying Torah or by obeying Torah!!”.

This is clearly wrong, as there is no contrast here. It makes no grammatical sense to say ‘Did you receive A by doing B or by doing B’.
Instead, replace ‘works of the law’ by ‘undertaking the rites required for Jewish proselytizaton’ in Gal 3:2 and you get:

“Did you receive the Spirit through ‘undertaking the rites required for Jewish proselytizaton’ or by obeying Torah”.

“This makes sense. Undertaking circumcision et al, whether at 8 days old or as a Gentile proselyte does not give anyone the Spirit of God; it is doing His will (obeying Torah) that bestows His favour and Spirit.

So this version of Gal 3:2 gives us a phrase with a true contrast and real choice to make.

Therefore we again see that of the two alternative understandings for ‘works of the law’ contrasted, the understanding that it means ‘‘undertaking the rites required for Jewish proselytizaton’ fits both logically and biblically."