John Calvin Commentary Galatians 3:10

"For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them." — Galatians 3:10 (ASV)

For as many as are of the works of the law. The argument is drawn from the contradictory nature of the two approaches; for the same fountain does not yield both hot and cold. The law holds all living people under its curse; and from the law, therefore, it is in vain to expect a blessing.

They are declared to be of the works of the law who place their trust for salvation in those works; for such modes of expression must always be interpreted by the nature of the question. Now, we know that the controversy here relates to righteousness. All who wish to be justified by the works of the law are declared to be liable to the curse.

But how does he prove this? The sentence of the law is that all who have transgressed any part of the law are cursed. Let us now see if there is any living person who fulfills the law. But no such person, it is evident, has been, or ever can be found. All, without exception, are here condemned.

The minor proposition and the conclusion are missing, for the entire syllogism would be as follows: “Whoever has come short in any part of the law is cursed; all are held chargeable with this guilt; therefore all are cursed.” This argument of Paul would not stand if we had sufficient strength to fulfill the law, for there would then be a fatal objection to the minor proposition. Either Paul reasons badly, or it is impossible for people to fulfill the law.

An antagonist might now object: “I admit that all transgressors are accursed; what then? People will be found who keep the law, for they are free to choose good or evil.” But Paul places here beyond controversy what Roman Catholics of that time hold to be a detestable doctrine: that people lack the strength to keep the law.

And so he boldly concludes that all are cursed, because all have been commanded to keep the law perfectly, which implies that in the present corruption of our nature, the power of keeping it perfectly is lacking. Hence we conclude that the curse which the law pronounces, though, in the phrase of logicians, it is accidental, is here perpetual and inseparable from its nature. The blessing which it offers us is excluded by our depravity, so that the curse alone remains.