By Adam Lloyd Johnson, Ph.D.
It depends on what you mean. The way that word, curse, is used in our culture, like in books, TV, and movies, probably isn’t the same way God uses it in the Bible. Now in movies and stuff, most of the time being cursed is like being jinxed or having bad luck. I don’t really believe in that type of curse. God is in control of everything, and He’s told us how to have fellowship with Him. Now there are things in life that happen we may call “bad luck,” but God uses those tough times in our life to draw us closer to Him. Sometimes He brings trials into our life to discipline us as a loving Father. Often, they are there just to purify us and remind us what’s really important in life.
I did a search for the word “curse” in my Bible computer software program, and 203 verses came up. In a sense, we are all cursed by God. In Galatians 3:10 Paul quotes the Old Testament, saying, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” He’s quoting Deuteronomy 27:26. In Deuteronomy chapters 27-28, God lays out blessings and curses that He will pour out on the Jewish people based on their obedience in following His instructions of love and purity. A person is cursed if he doesn’t obey all of God’s commands (James 2:10-11).
Now, neither you nor I lived as a Jew during the days of Moses, so how does this apply to us? Well, Romans 2:12-16 makes it clear that we all have these Laws written on our heart, i.e., our God-given conscience. Since we’ve all broken God’s Law, we are all cursed. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23 & 6:23). Read Deuteronomy chapters 27-28 and you will see that you have most definitely done at least one of those things that brings upon God’s curse.
The good news, if you keep reading in Galatians 3, is that Jesus Christ redeemed, or rescued, us from the curse of the Law by becoming cursed Himself. This redemption comes from putting our faith in Jesus according to Galatians 3:14. Have you done that? If so, the curse is gone. If not, now is the time!
Now, many of the other verses that came up in my search were about the curse that’s on the world because of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. You can read about that in Genesis 3:17, Romans 3:18-25, and Revelation 22:3.
Lastly, let me also add that at one time in my Christian life, I guess you could say I thought I was cursed by God. What caused this mistaken belief was my misinterpretation of Romans 9:10-13. I had thought this verse taught that God hated Esau before he was even born, before he had done anything bad, that he was predestined to be hated/cursed by God. I was struggling with something in my walk with God and came to the point where I thought I must be predestined by God for destruction. It really shook me up. See how important it is to understand the Word of God correctly?
Anyway, long story short, I came to understand that this verse isn’t directly talking about God choosing people for either heaven or hell, but it is an explanation of why God has the right to decide to save people who aren’t Jewish when they put their faith in Jesus and why He has the right to send people to hell that reject His love and mercy by not putting their faith in Jesus, even when they are part of the “chosen” people, the Jews. I arrived at this conclusion mostly by studying other passages which say that God desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4 & 2 Peter 3:9). I’m not sure if this is what you’re struggling with, but I thought I’d mention it just in case.
© Adam Lloyd Johnson and Convincing Proof.