Galatians 3: 13 says that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. 

Gal 3:13  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

Some people understand this to mean that God’s Law is somehow a curse.  But is this understanding correct?  Let’s take a look.

Firstly, we should remind ourselves that Paul wrote that the law is holy.

Rom 7:12  Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

So, whatever “the curse of the law” means, it cannot contradict this.  A few verses earlier in Galatians 3 Paul wrote:

Gal 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 27:26.

Deu 27:26  ‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

The curse is what happens to everyone who does not obey the law.  The law itself is not the curse, but disobedience to the law incurs the curse.  The curse of the law is the penalty that comes from breaking God’s law.  Paul then explains that:

Gal 3:13  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

This is a reference to Deuteronomy 21:23. 

Deu 21:22  “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
Deu 21:23  his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

We have all sinned.

Rom 3:23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

And the penalty for our sin is death.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The cross Jesus had to carry and was hanged on was probably the cross (horizontal) piece which was then attached to a tree.  Jesus Christ was crucified and hung on a tree as a condemned criminal.

1Pe 2:24  who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

Jesus Christ bore the full curse, which was the public disgrace and penalty of death, that we all deserve.  This is how Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.

The curse of the law is death.  But Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by dying for us.