The  next  question  that  is  raised  is.  What  is  the
relation  of  the  law,  as  it  curses,  to  God  ?  Dr.  Fairbairn
draws  an  important  distinction  between  the  term  law,  as
used  by  the  apostle  in  its  Jewish  acceptation,  and  the
sense-  in  which  theologians  generally  use  it ;  that,  namely,
of  the  Eoman  jurisprudence.  He  says:  "Hence,  if  a
man  reads  the  Pauline  1/0/A09  as  if  it  were  Boman  and
magisterial  lex,  he  will  radically  misread  it,  especially  in  all
that  concerns  its  relation  to  the  death  of  Christ.  *  Christ
hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law ' ;  certainly,  but
this  was  the  law  which  the  Jew  loved,  and  which  was
thus  for  ever  abolished,  not  the  universal  law  of  God.
He  became  *a  curse  for  us';  certainly,  but  under  the
same  law,  for  by  it  '  He  was  hanged  upon  a  tree.'  But
the  law  that  thus  judged  Him  condemned  itself ;  by
cursing  Him  it  became  accursed.  His  death  was  not  the
vindication,  but  the  condemnation  of  the  law.  And  this
is  the  characteristic  attitude  of  the  New  Testament  writers.
