Spirituality Column #738

January 5, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Killing the Curse

By Bob Walters

“Cursed is the ground because of you …” – Genesis 3:17

I know … and a Happy New Year to you, too.

But have you ever wondered what Adam must have thought when Almighty God Himself angrily leveled this horrible curse against him? And despite how deeply the consideration of sin relentlessly and properly occupies the thoughts, faith, guilt, actions, and prayers of Christians everywhere, I don’t think we can understand Jesus or our sin and salvation if we do not first understand this curse. 

There are some tough truths in the Bible, and this curse is perhaps chief among them.  As Christians we constantly talk about Satan, temptation, and sin, but here the plainest, most obvious scriptural truth is that the Curse – the Big C Curse, the fallenness of the world – was declared by God, not by Satan.  Why would God do that?

The Sunday school answer of course is that God’s perfection demanded it.  Humanity was created by God in His own perfect image and when humanity sinned, the perfection of paradise – at God’s command – was closed off and humanity condemned.  I sometimes wonder why God hadn’t cursed Satan long before this, and why the “woman” who sinned first (her name “Eve” isn’t declared until after the curse is leveled), always gets second billing when we discuss the “sin of Adam and Eve.”  Maybe Adam truly was at fault; shouldn’t he have been there protecting his mate from evil?

No matter.  Carefully reading any Bible passage brings to mind many questions, issues, and conjectures.  In Genesis 3 we learn that evil existed, temptation and sin happened, and sin cost Adam, Eve, and humanity their innocence going forward.  Notice though, God didn’t take away their will, their creativity, their lives, or their relationship with Him. God put them outside the Kingdom … but kept His eye on them.

Let’s fast forward now through the Old Testament, which describes the long-lasting problem of sin.  We learn about God’s character, man’s character, the Law, faith, and an ever-clarifying prophecy of hope and reconciliation one day in the form of this Messiah fellow.  But let’s remember too mankind’s condition of being cursed.  The Old Testament ended, but with no ending; the problem was revealed; the solution was not.

That was when Jesus showed up.  Do you sometimes wonder what it was, exactly, that Jesus “fixed” on the cross?  In Christ’s death I don’t see Satan, sin, and the curse wadded together; they can’t be.  Satan is still with us and humanity is still sinful.

No … what died on the cross and is forever covered in the blood of Jesus – the magnificent, world-altering, humanity-saving, hope-harkening work of Christ – was the curse of God.  For the faithful who believe Jesus is the son of God, the curse is dead.

I always had trouble with this lamb who took away my sins and defeated evil because I, for one, still sin and see evil every day.  Within ourselves and the freedom God grants to us, we can act better, love more, be kinder, share our faith, witness for Jesus, believe Jesus is Lord, and with the Spirit shine the light of Jesus into the world.

What we could never do is defeat God’s curse, so God nailed that curse to a tree.  Jesus in His death defeated it for us and invited us back into the Kingdom of God.

That is our eternal salvation, and we are now free - in Christ - to take it or leave it.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” See?