Blessing for the Nations and the Curse of the Law

Jeffrey Wisdom interprets Paul's citation of Genesis and Deuteronomy in Gal 3.8-10. He surveys the promise to Abraham to bless all nations and the curse of the covenant in the Jewish scripture. Blessing for the nations is an important part of God's covenant purpose for Abraham's descendants from the start. The curse of the covenant is consistently connected with the motifs of failure to do all the law and of the abandonment of the Lord for other gods. Jeffrey Wisdom then identifies and analyzes the various strands of the postbiblical Jewish literature that cite the promise of blessing for the nations and the curse of the covenant. He further argues an interpretation of Gal 3.8-10, in which the importance for Paul's argument of blessing for the nations and the curse on those who are disloyal to the Lord is stressed. Paul's call to preach the gospel to the gentiles and his defense of the truth of the gospel provide the context for the connection between the gospel and the promise to Abraham of blessing for the nations in Gal 3.8, a blessing which has always been God's purpose for Abraham's descendants. The interpretation of Gal 3.10 then builds on this insight. Those who are of works of the law are identified as the troublemakers who have preached another gospel to the Galatians and thereby have been disloyal to God and his purpose for Abraham's descendants. Paul cites Deut 27.26 to support this assertion that they have been disloyal to God and therefore are under the curse. Jeffrey Wisdom traces this interpretation of Gal 3.8-10 through to 3.13-14 and supports it by other traces of the same perspective on the gospel and the curse in Galatians.

Born 1960; 1993 MDiv, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; taught in Greek language program at Gordon-Conwell; 1998 PhD, University of Durham; 1996-99 Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church, Abington, MA; presently the Senior Pastor at the First Baptist Church of No. Oxford, MA.