Galatians 3:13

Redeemed us (hma exhgorasen). First aorist active of the compound verb exagorazw (Polybius, Plutarch, Diodorus), to buy from, to buy back, to ransom. The simple verb agorazw ( 1 Corinthians 6:20 ; 1 Corinthians 7:23 ) is used in an inscription for the purchase of slaves in a will (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 324). See also Galatians 4:5 ; Colossians 4:5 ; Ephesians 5:16 . Christ purchased us from the curse of the law (ek th katara tou nomou). "Out from (ek repeated) under (upo in verse Ephesians 10 ) the curse of the law." Having become a curse for us (genomeno uper hmwn katara). Here the graphic picture is completed. We were under (upo) a curse, Christ became a curse over (uper) us and so between us and the overhanging curse which fell on him instead of on us. Thus he bought us out (ek) and we are free from the curse which he took on himself. This use of uper for substitution is common in the papyri and in ancient Greek as in the N.T. ( John 11:50 ; 2 Corinthians 5:14 ). That hangeth on a tree (o kremameno epi xulou). Quotation from Deuteronomy 21:23 with the omission of upo qeou (by God). Since Christ was not cursed by God. The allusion was to exposure of dead bodies on stakes or crosses ( Joshua 10:26 ). Xulon means wood, not usually tree, though so in Luke 23:31 and in later Greek. It was used of gallows, crosses, etc. See Acts 5:30 ; Acts 10:39 ; 1 Peter 2:24 . On the present middle participle from the old verb kremannumi, to hang, see on "Mt 18:6"; see also "Ac 5:30".