The Evil Eye and the Curse of the Law: Galatians 3.1 Revisited

Paul's question in Gal. 3.1, 'Who has cast the evil eye on you?', echoes the Deuter onomic curse in which starving parents cast the evil eye and devour their own chil dren. This echo anticipates Paul's presentation of Christ crucified as the antidote to the curse of the law in ch. 3. It also underwrites Paul's use of parent-child imagery, in ch. 4, to depict his gracious gospel as the free mother who bears children for freedom, but the law-inscribing mission as an enslaved mother whose children will never reach maturity.

Duke Scholars

Author Susan Eastman Divinity School