Brief Commentary on Galatians 3:13

An excerpt from Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatian 3:13:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

"When we hear that Christ was made a curse for us, let us believe it with joy and assurance. By faith Christ changes places with us. He gets our sins, we get His holiness. By faith alone can we become righteous, for faith invests us with the sinlessness of Christ. The more fully we believe this, the fuller will be our joy. If you believe that sin, death, and the curse are void, why, they are null, zero. Whenever sin and death make you nervous, write it down as an illusion of the devil. There is no sin now, no curse, no death, no devil because Christ has done away with them. This fact is sure. There is nothing wrong with the fact. The defect lies in our lack of faith. . . . If I examine myself, I find enough unholiness to shock me. But when I look at Christ in me, I find that I am altogether holy."

--Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, 1535, Gal. 3:13

Communion Meditation: Uniting Past, Present, and Future

The Lord’s Supper unites past, present, and future.

1 Cor 11:23-26

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

 

The Holy Meal is simultaneously a remembrance of what Christ did in the past, a proclamation of that Gospel in the present, and an anticipation for the coming kingdom of God in the future.

 

Right now, in our eating and drinking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, past, present, and future are united in the event. We participate in the Eternal and with the Eternal One.

A Poem by G. Hopkins: Moonless Darkness

Moonless Darkness

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Moonless darkness stands between.
Past, the Past, no more be seen!
But the Bethlehem-star may lead me
To the sight of Him Who freed me

From the self that I have been.

Make me pure, Lord: Thou art holy;

Make me meek, Lord: Thou wert lowly;

Now beginning, and always:

Now begin, on Christmas day.