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There are no exemptions or favours therefore to any who endeavour by works of law
to produce righteousness before God. "Everyone" is leveled, the Jew to the same plane
as the Gentile.
(2) "Cursed is every one that CONTINUETH NOT." A spasmodic obedience is of no
use here. An obedience that functioned on Sabbath days, but failed in the busy days of
the work-a-day week, would not pass. There must be `continuance'. This charge was
laid against Israel by the Lord:
"They continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not" (Heb. 8: 9).
Where Israel failed there was no respect of the poor Gentile succeeding.
(3) "Cursed is every one that continueth not in ALL THINGS." That which is a
strong temptation to one man leaves another unmoved, but in the matter of law, we are
not at liberty to choose the commandment we find comparatively easy and ignore the
rest. "All things that are written" sound the death-knell to all hope in the flesh, and
James has given us as a principle the statement:
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all" (James 2: 10).
This sweeping statement becomes luminous in the light of Paul's utterance:
"All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself" (Gal. 5: 14).
(4) "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law TO DO THEM" (Gal. 3: 10). To do them! That is the one and only
acknowledgment the law demands, and it is the one that no flesh can render. Many may
approve the law. He may say with truth, that "the Mosaic law is the finest code ever
introduced". But God does not ask for patronage; He asks for obedience.
"The law is not of faith; but, the man that doeth them shall live in them" (Gal. 3: 12).
Scripture testimony forbids and personal experience disallows the possibility of any
man passing this fourfold test. To be of the `works of law' is to be indeed `under the
curse'. In strong contrast with such deadly works, the Apostle places `faith'. "Faith"
pistis, "to believe" pisteuo, and "faithful" pistos are derived from the passive form of
peitho `to persuade'. Macknight has a comment on Rom. 14: 23 which is helpful in
view of this association of `faith' and `being persuaded'.
"Here, as in verse 22, faith signifies, not the belief of the gospel, but the persuasion
that what one doth is lawful. So understood, the Apostle's declaration is perfectly just in
every case; because if a man acts without that persuasion, he acts without any principle
of virtue, being guided merely by his own inclinations."
In Galatians "faith" pistis occurs many times, and under different categories.